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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The World Health Organization has confirmed 72 cases of the dreaded virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo since May; 23 of them are health care workers. Despite elaborate protective garb and other precautions, it's hard for doctors, nurses and health aides to avoid virus-laden bodily fluids of Ebola patients. -
A recent study found 1 in 10 American men and 1 in 14 women has had a kidney stone. Being obese or diabetic seems to raise the risk of getting them. Now lasers are becoming the treatment-of-choice for kidney stones in academic medical centers. -
Every state except Alaska and Hawaii has reported West Nile virus in people, birds or mosquitoes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects human cases will rise through October. In Texas, the worst-hit state, deaths reached 31. -
Right now about 8 million people around the world are getting treated for HIV at a cost of about $17 billion a year. Universal treatment would cost another $22 billion. One proposal on funding: a tax on beer and cigarettes.
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Black high school students are engaging in risky sexual behavior far less often than they were 20 years ago, a study found. But their condom use is also dropping, leading some to worry that HIV rates within the black community may not go down. -
A new approach in San Francisco provides HIV testing and treatment for patients with the virus who didn't know they were at risk. "Test and treat" requires long-term vigilance by doctors and patients, but early evidence suggests that it is reducing HIV in the city. -
After Timothy Ray Brown became the first person to be cured of HIV, scientists became more optimistic that they could find other ways to cure patients. Two of the most promising possibilities include a vaccine and gene therapy that would re-engineer the immune system. -
Our call-out on Facebook for people to share their experiences of the health care system yielded wrenching tales of bankruptcies, medical errors, and delayed or foregone treatment. -
Our call-out on Facebook for people to share their experiences of the health care system yielded wrenching tales of bankruptcies, medical errors, and delayed or foregone treatment.
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Many activists praised President Obama's plans to expand U.S. efforts to fight AIDS at home and abroad. The announcement comes at a time when experts and activists believe that the goal of an "AIDS-free generation" may be achievable.
