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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Louisiana officials say they identified for the first time a dangerous form of amoeba in a municipal water supply. It was found after a 4-year-old boy died of a brain infection caused by the amoeba. They say this may make it easier to diagnose cases of encephalitis with unknown causes. -
The question of how to treat ductal carcinoma in situ is roiling the medical profession, and making for tough choices for women. The condition may never become invasive cancer. But some women choose to have mastectomies rather than live with uncertainty. -
Most people get diagnosed with lung cancer when it's too late to effectively treat it. A federal panel is trying to improve the odds by saying that longtime smokers and former smokers should get annual CT scans to check for lung cancer. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
Those people who have contracted the H7N9 virus have become very sick. And unlike the older bird flu virus, this one shows some adaptation to mammals, making it a matter of concern. But it doesn't make chickens sick, posing unique difficulties in fighting this kind of flu. -
Fewer than three weeks after they were severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombings, Celeste Corcoran and her 18-year-old daughter, Sydney, are entering a new phase of recovery and rehabilitation. Part of their healing is emotional, not physical. -
An international team of disease detectives are in China to investigate an outbreak of a new strain of bird flu, H7N9. The biggest puzzle right now is where these infections are coming from, as testing poultry has turned up very few infected birds.
