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.
-
Many students go to college expecting to drink, and all too often the college culture encourages it. That makes students more vulnerable to sexual assault, car accidents and other dangers. -
About 25 percent of people with macular degeneration in both eyes develop clinical depression. But developing strategies for staying engaged in passions and people may cut that risk by more than half. -
Americans are much less active in their leisure time than they were 20 years ago; that's true even for young people. Up to half of people say they're completely sedentary. Desk jobs don't help. -
Do you feel like you wander aimlessly through life, or is there a reason you're here? Psychologists say people with a sense of purpose may stress out less. Or they may lead healthier lives. -
People who graduate from high school are healthier than people who drop out. To find out why, researchers looked at whether students who got into top charter schools were avoiding health risks. -
Being the parent of a teenager can be uniquely stressful even in the best of times. But seeking advice from other parents can help, as can spending one-on-one time with that button-pushing kid. -
Half of Americans say they've had a major stressful event in the past year, according to a poll by NPR, the Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Here's how it hurts. -
Boys are more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than girls, though both sexes are equally affected. Women are increasingly seeking treatment as young adults. -
The children of parents who struggle with anxiety are much more likely to develop it themselves. Therapy for both parents and children can help keep the often-debilitating disorder at bay.
-
Once a drug is approved by the FDA, doctors can use it as they see fit. That can be brilliant or risky, depending on the medication and the patient.
