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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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is most commonly diagnosed in children. But older adults may find that what they had worried was early dementia is actually ADHD. -
Around age 50, people may begin to forget things. This can be scary. But there are clear differences between the onset of dementia and totally normal, age-related lapses in memory. -
Largest study to date finds women who have abnormal mammograms but negative results from further tests have a somewhat higher risk of developing breast cancer during the next 10 years. -
This Thursday, people all over the country will sit around the dinner table discussing what they're thankful for. And being grateful may also reduce the risk of heart disease.
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Intensive care units often take temperatures in the armpit, but those can be off by as much as 1.5 degrees. More accurate (and invasive) internal thermometers can help detect hidden infections. -
The number of U.S. women choosing long-acting, reversible birth control methods has more than quadrupled since 2002, data suggest. Use of the pill, condoms and female sterilization has dipped a bit. -
Thirteen years after a study on hormone therapy was abruptly halted due to concerns about cancer risk, some doctors say that it's safe for most younger women if they take hormones short term. -
Three years after bariatric surgery, more than 200 severely obese teens studied had dropped about a third of their weight and improved their metabolism, heart health and self-esteem. -
Last year, public health officials were taken by surprise when new strains of the flu virus appeared. Not so this year and they advise everyone six months or older to get vaccinated against the flu.
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Good CPR requires 100 to 120 chest compressions per minute. If you go too fast or too slow it's not as effective. Researchers say using a metronome helps medical providers maintain the right pace.
