Patti Neighmond
Award-winning journalist Patti Neighmond is NPR's health policy correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.
Based in Los Angeles, Neighmond has covered health care policy since April 1987. She joined NPR's staff in 1981, covering local New York City news as well as the United Nations. In 1984, she became a producer for NPR's science unit and specialized in science and environmental issues.
Neighmond has earned a broad array of awards for her reporting. In 1993, she received the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for coverage of health reform. That same year, she received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for a story on a young quadriplegic who convinced Georgia officials that she could live at home less expensively and more happily than in a nursing home. In 1990, Neighmond won the World Hunger Award for a story about healthcare and low-income children. She received two awards in 1989: a George Polk Award for her powerful ten-part series on AIDS patient Archie Harrison, who was taking the anti-viral drug AZT; and a Major Armstrong Award for her series on the Canadian health care system. The Population Institute, based in Washington, DC, has presented its radio documentary award to Neighmond twice: in 1988 for "Family Planning in India" and in 1984 for her coverage of overpopulation in Mexico. Her 1987 report "AIDS and Doctors" won the National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism, and her two-part series on the aquaculture industry earned the 1986 American Association for the Advancement of Science Award.
Neighmond began her career in journalism in 1978, at the Pacifica Foundation's DC bureau, where she covered Capitol Hill and the White House. She began freelance reporting for NPR from New York City in 1980. Neighmond earned her bachelor's degree in English and drama from the University of Maryland, and now lives in Los Angeles.
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Each year the U.S. spends billions of dollars on unnecessary tests and treatments that result from inaccurate mammograms, some scientists say. They're calling for more selective screening.
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Treadmill desks were the hot new trend in exercising a few years ago. The idea was to get moving and lose weight at work. But a new study suggests people don't use them enough to make a difference. -
Overall, men were more likely to take their lives than women on the job. And workers between the ages of 65 and 74 were more likely to commit suicide at work than their younger counterparts.
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Living in substandard housing can make health problems like asthma much worse. Two mothers tell of their families' struggles to stay healthy in poor housing and their efforts to improve their lot. -
People with household incomes of less than $25,000 a year say in a new poll that the lack of cash really hurts their health. Low-quality food and dangerous housing are two reasons why. -
The way a pediatrician talks with nervous parents about vaccines may determine whether the child gets immunized or not, a study suggests. Asking "What do you want to do about shots?" doesn't work. -
The pressure, doctors say, is mostly coming from other parents who don't want their infants exposed to measles, whooping cough or other serious illnesses in the pediatric waiting room. -
California health officials say more than 4 dozen cases of measles have been diagnosed in the state — a result of an outbreak that started at Disneyland. Most who got sick were not vaccinated.
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Bariatric surgery works for severely obese patients because it shrinks the size of the stomach. But years later, the stomach starts to expand and some patients regain the weight they lost.
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Working more than 48 hours a week makes risky drinking more likely, a study of people in 14 countries finds. And that held true for rich and poor, men and women.
