Richard Knox
Since he joined NPR in 2000, Knox has covered a broad range of issues and events in public health, medicine, and science. His reports can be heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Talk of the Nation, and newscasts.
Among other things, Knox's NPR reports have examined the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa, North America, and the Caribbean; anthrax terrorism; smallpox and other bioterrorism preparedness issues; the rising cost of medical care; early detection of lung cancer; community caregiving; music and the brain; and the SARS epidemic.
Before joining NPR, Knox covered medicine and health for The Boston Globe. His award-winning 1995 articles on medical errors are considered landmarks in the national movement to prevent medical mistakes. Knox is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Columbia University. He has held yearlong fellowships at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and is the author of a 1993 book on Germany's health care system.
He and his wife Jean, an editor, live in Boston. They have two daughters.
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Officials in Sheboygan, Wis., scrambled to contain a deadly, drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. An outbreak there serves as a reminder that the contagious disease still poses a threat in the U.S. Treating just nine cases will take months and cost millions of dollars. -
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome emerged a year ago in Saudi Arabia, although the world didn't find out about it until September, when researchers said it was caused by a previously unknown virus that's in the same family as SARS. -
A vaccine against a virus that causes cervical cancer has cut infections among teenage girls by over half in the first four years of use, scientists report. Only about one-third of girls in that age group have received the recommended shots. -
Needle sharing and drug use put an estimated 4,000 people at risk for contracting HIV every year. Now, the same medications that are used to treat HIV-positive individuals might also protect the uninfected before they engage in risky behavior. -
Is the world on the verge of a pandemic? There are three reasons to think so. Two flu viruses are active, and a virus that bears a resemblance to SARS has cropped up in the Middle East. Each has devastating potential, but many early warnings of past pandemics have failed to materialize. -
At issue is a controversial study of more than 1,300 severely premature infants that looked at how much oxygen they should receive after birth. This spring, the federal Office for Human Research Protections criticized the scientists who ran the study for failing to tell parents enough about the risks. -
The goal is to counter drug resistance, which is largely a consequence of antibiotics overuse. Supporters say the plan would entice companies back into the market because it would be much cheaper to gain approval. But critics call it "a tragedy of monumental proportions." -
Tuberculosis is much less of a health threat in the United States than it is in other countries. But a family in Boston discovered that even here, no one is immune from this ancient foe. More than a dozen family members were infected with TB, and matriarch Judy Williams died at age 59. -
Mastectomies have become increasingly popular for women with breast cancer. That's a big turnaround from the 1980s, when women abandoned mastectomy in favor of breast-saving lumpectomy. -
The virus's ability to move between these mammals might not bode well for humans. So far, it appears that H7N9 doesn't pass easily between people, but it could mutate over time and pose more of a threat.
