Scott Hensley
Scott Hensley edits stories about health, biomedical research and pharmaceuticals for NPR's Science desk. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has led the desk's reporting on the development of vaccines against the coronavirus.
Hensley has worked on award-winning investigations in collaboration with journalistic partners.
He was the lead NPR editor on an investigation with the Center for Public Integrity in 2018 that exposed drug industry influence on the choices of preferred medicines by Medicaid programs. The work won the 2019 Gerald Loeb Award for audio reporting.
In 2017, Hensley was the lead NPR editor on an investigation with Kaiser Health News that showed how the pharmaceutical industry exploits government incentives intended to encourage the development of treatments for rare diseases. The stories won the 2019 digital award from the National Institute for Health Care Management.
Hensley has been editing in his current role since 2019. He joined NPR in 2009 to launch Shots, a blog that expanded to become a digital destination for NPR health coverage.
Before NPR, Hensley was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal. He was the founding editor of The Wall Street Journal Health Blog, which focused on the intersection of health and business. As a reporter, he covered the drug industry and the Human Genome Project.
Hensley served on the board of the Association of Health Care Journalists from 2012 to 2020.
He has a bachelor's degree in natural sciences from Johns Hopkins University and a master's in journalism from Columbia University.
Before becoming a journalist, Hensley worked in the medical device industry. He remains, now and forever, a lover of Dobermans, lacrosse and Callinectes sapidus.
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Donald Trump drew fire in recent debates for his lack of specifics on how he would change the country's health care system. He released a plan Wednesday that is unlikely to satisfy critics. -
Recommendations for who should get mammograms or take cholesterol-lowering drugs are among the medical guidelines that have recently changed. -
The group of patients that was treated more intensively did 25 percent better than the one that was treated to the traditional target. But some side effects nearly doubled with intensive treatment. -
An NPR poll found that a majority of people favor regulation of e-cigarette. Support rose with education. Nearly two-thirds of people with college or graduate degrees supported regulation.
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While the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says most women should get screening mammograms every two years, an NPR-Truven Health Analytics poll finds women think they should go every year.
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A voucher that can get a drug through the Food and Drug Administration faster was created to reward companies that develop medicines for neglected diseases. The market for vouchers is heating up. -
One reason health insurers are looking to get bigger is that the hospitals and doctor groups across the negotiating table have also gotten bigger. -
Talking to medical residents is one way to get a bead on where medicine is headed. A recent survey of more than 1,700 residents asked a slew of questions about their hopes, daily work and finances.
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More than 6,000 incidents involving children and liquid laundry packets have been reported to poison control centers so far this year. The health problems include respiratory distress and vomiting. -
Since 1970, the national colorectal cancer death rate has been cut in half. But progress has lagged in the Lower Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and counties in eastern Virginia and North Carolina.
