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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Giving infants peanut puree as one of their first solid foods can help prevent peanut allergies, research has shown. To do that safely, start early — and only after checking with your doctor. -
About 20 states are in the process of creating a system for rating child care providers. But it's hard to decide which standards best measure quality and which are most useful to parents. -
The most common challenge parents face when looking for child care is the high cost. At an average cost of $10,000 a year, infant child care rivals a year's tuition at a state college or university. -
The state's 2002 law offers six weeks' leave at a little over half-pay to eligible workers after the birth of a child. Ninety percent of businesses say the law's had a "neutral or positive" impact. -
The biggest mistake parents make is overdosing. Part of the problem is that the spoons and measuring cups the parents use are not accurate. Researchers suggest using a syringe instead.
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Earlier studies suggested that most people put the pounds back on, but a large study that followed people for a decade after bariatric surgery found that the vast majority avoided gaining weight. -
With all the concern about opioid addiction, some patients are worried and want to stop taking powerful medication. Tapering the drugs gradually may be a better way to do that than going cold turkey.
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A recent poll shows stress tops the list for people concerned about the impact of their job on their health. Workplace wellness programs often address stress, but many employees don't sign up. -
And they're not unplugging from email and text messages when they do get away, an NPR poll finds. "So they're taking their stress along with them wherever they go," says a Harvard scientist. -
Many women and even doctors underestimate a woman's heart attack risk, research shows, as they focus on weight and breast health instead. Tiny damaged arteries in the heart may not show up in scans.
