Patti Neighmond
Award-winning journalist Patti Neighmond is NPR's health policy correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.
Based in Los Angeles, Neighmond has covered health care policy since April 1987. She joined NPR's staff in 1981, covering local New York City news as well as the United Nations. In 1984, she became a producer for NPR's science unit and specialized in science and environmental issues.
Neighmond has earned a broad array of awards for her reporting. In 1993, she received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of health reform. That same year, she received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for a story on a young quadriplegic who convinced Georgia officials that she could live at home less expensively and more happily than in a nursing home. In 1990, Neighmond won the World Hunger Award for a story about healthcare and low-income children. She received two awards in 1989: a George Polk Award for her powerful ten-part series on AIDS patient Archie Harrison, who was taking the anti-viral drug AZT; and a Major Armstrong Award for her series on the Canadian health care system. The Population Institute, based in Washington, DC, has presented its radio documentary award to Neighmond twice: in 1988 for "Family Planning in India" and in 1984 for her coverage of overpopulation in Mexico. Her 1987 report "AIDS and Doctors" won the National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism, and her two-part series on the aquaculture industry earned the 1986 American Association for the Advancement of Science Award.
Neighmond began her career in journalism in 1978, at the Pacifica Foundation's DC bureau, where she covered Capitol Hill and the White House. She began freelance reporting for NPR from New York City in 1980. Neighmond earned her bachelor's degree in English and drama from the University of Maryland, and now lives in Los Angeles.
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Light therapy can help treat depression that's part of seasonal affective disorder, but it hasn't worked so well for treating bipolar disorder. It may come down to when people are exposed to light. -
U.K. scientists say arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs or bits of ragged tissue in sore shoulders offered no more pain relief than sham surgery in their randomized test. -
It's not proof of cause and effect, but should be a warning, researchers say. Surveys showed teens — especially girls — who spent hours online daily were more likely than others to report depression. -
People with skin conditions like eczema need moisturizers to treat their dry, cracked and reddened skin. But research suggests many moisturizers are mislabeled and can make the skin conditions worse. -
For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics has weighed in on what teens and young adults (and their doctors and parents) need to know about safely getting piercings and tattoos. -
If you sit too much during middle age — at work and at home — your ability to exercise or even walk in late decades is at risk, a study hints. And, of course, your risk of heart disease climbs, too. -
The whiter the smile the more attractive the person, research finds. Both men and women say white teeth matter when choosing a mate. This may be why whitening teeth is a $3.2 billion industry. -
Girls are much less likely to be diagnosed with autism, but that may be because the signs of the disorder are different than in boys. And girls may be missing out on help as a result. -
Researchers say the test, which measures gene activity, can help avoid "overtreating" tumors that are not life-threatening. It might allow some patients to avoid radiation and chemotherapy. -
A change in guidelines for lumpectomy surgery in 2014 has already reduced the number of women undergoing additional surgery, including mastectomy, by 16 percent.
