Rae Ellen Bichell
Rae Ellen Bichell is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She first came to NPR in 2013 as a Kroc fellow and has since reported Web and radio stories on biomedical research, global health, and basic science. She won a 2016 Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award from the Foundation for Biomedical Research. After graduating from Yale University, she spent two years in Helsinki, Finland, as a freelance reporter and Fulbright grantee.
-
People are supposed to get vaccine boosters for tetanus and diphtheria once every 10 years. But researchers in Oregon say that's overkill: For adults, one booster every 30 years might be good enough.
-
U.S. health officials say they are now convinced that Zika virus can target the developing brain before birth, leading to a severe type of microcephaly and other brain abnormalities.
-
Evidence has ping-ponged over the decades on the effects of hormone therapy on a woman's arteries. The latest study suggests a brief stint on hormones might be helpful — if given at the right time.
-
A report from doctors in Argentina raises the possibility that a mosquito pesticide could be responsible for an increase in microcephaly in Brazil. But many top scientists strongly disagree.
-
Despite striking ethnic disparities in the incidence and mortality of diseases like cancer and respiratory disease, minorities are not well represented in clinical trials. A paper out in the journal PLOS Medicine says two main barriers to achieving diverse clinical trials are the expense of recruiting minority subjects, and fears of exploitation in medical research.
-
He came into the hospital in bad shape. In addition to being HIV-positive, he had what looked like a malignant tumor. The tumor, it turned out, was not human.
-
United Nations member states pledged Friday to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. That's defined as surviving on $1.25 per person per day. What is life really like on that amount?
-
UNICEF estimates that thousands of children in West Africa have lost parents to Ebola. Convincing communities to accept and care for these children isn't always easy.
-
Sierra Leoneans scramble for supplies as a three-day, countrywide lockdown approaches. International medical professionals doubt the move will do much to halt the spread of Ebola.
-
The plague has reportedly popped up in Oregon. It's the same disease that killed millions in the Middle Ages. Only now we know how to treat it.