Richard Knox
Since he joined NPR in 2000, Knox has covered a broad range of issues and events in public health, medicine, and science. His reports can be heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Talk of the Nation, and newscasts.
Among other things, Knox's NPR reports have examined the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa, North America, and the Caribbean; anthrax terrorism; smallpox and other bioterrorism preparedness issues; the rising cost of medical care; early detection of lung cancer; community caregiving; music and the brain; and the SARS epidemic.
Before joining NPR, Knox covered medicine and health for The Boston Globe. His award-winning 1995 articles on medical errors are considered landmarks in the national movement to prevent medical mistakes. Knox is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Columbia University. He has held yearlong fellowships at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and is the author of a 1993 book on Germany's health care system.
He and his wife Jean, an editor, live in Boston. They have two daughters.
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A new state agency is determining the minimum health insurance plan that all Massachusetts citizens must buy by 2009. Will Massachusetts face a consumer revolt, or will it lead the nation closer to universal coverage? -
Some doctors say they're having a hard time stocking up on flu vaccines, while big pharmacy chains are already advertising October clinics. The CDC says large retailers are cooperating with its pleas to be fair, and that there should be no vaccine shortage this year.
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Americans Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering "RNA interference," a way organisms turn off individual genes. The discovery is considered by many scientists to be a breakthrough in modern biology.
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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to two American researchers, Andrew Fire of Stanford University and Craig Mello of the University of Massachusetts. The pair, who discovered how to selectively silence genes that cause disease, will share the $1.4 million prize.
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The latest treatment advances — inhalable insulin, a drug derived from lizard saliva — hold great promise for the 21 million Americans with diabetes. So does the familiar doctor's order: Exercise!
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At the international AIDS conference in Toronto, experts tell of successes in delivering treatments to the poorest corners of the world. But stresses are emerging: a weak health care system, a lack of drugs for children, and the high cost of therapies for those whose first-line treatment has failed. The most pressing problem is the failure of HIV prevention efforts to expand as fast as treatments have.
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When Congress expanded Medicare to include drug coverage, it ordered the National Institute of Medicine to look at what should be done to minimize medication errors. The agency says medication errors harm at least 1.5 million Americans every year.
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Bill Gates surprised even his closest advisers when he said his dream is to eliminate the world's top 20 diseases in his lifetime. Gates-watchers say it's not naïve over-reaching. The Gateses have an optimistic belief in technology and management that, combined with their resources, could make a difference.
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A measles outbreak in Boston is showing how the global economy opens opportunities for one of the world's most contagious viruses. Disease detectives say a computer programmer from India brought the virus to Boston's tallest office tower. The outbreak reveals that millions of Americans in their 30s and 40s are vulnerable to measles, even though they were vaccinated years ago.
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A new analysis suggests that asthma medications containing the drug salmeterol can increase the risk of hospitalization for any form of asthma. The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine revives the debate whether these medications should stay on the market.
