Bonnie Petrie
Bioscience & Medicine Reporterbonnie@TPR.org
BlueSky: @bonniepetrie.bsky.social
Bonnie Petrie covers bioscience and medicine for Texas Public Radio and is the host of the Petrie Dish podcast, which explores the intersection of science, medicine, and life in the 2020s. She also brings you the latest research happening at UT Health San Antonio in a weekly report called Science & Medicine.
Bonnie grew up on the Canadian border in northern New York, but called Texas home for more than 20 years. She has twice been nominated for the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in recognition of her work in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, but claims she's still too young for all that. She has also received many Edward R Murrow, Associated Press, and other journalism awards. She and Petrie Dish have been honored with several Gracie Awards from The Alliance for Women in Media, including personal recognition as the best host of a local show in the nation.
Bonnie is mom to a college student, two dogs, two cats and spends her free time solving family mysteries using genetic genealogy.
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Baby teeth hold a record of chemical exposure from the second trimester of pregnancy into early childhood. A study from UT Health San Antonio found chemicals from many common household products and baby gear in all of the teeth studied, but many were at higher levels in the teeth of children with autism. The study's author shares details of her research and guidance on reducing children's exposure to these types of chemicals. -
Endometrial cancer rates are higher in a swath of South Texas than anywhere else in the state, especially among young Hispanic women. A UT Health San Antonio gynecologic oncologist who helped lead the study explains what may raise the risk and how it can be caught early. -
A UT San Antonio researcher warns that dementia cases could triple by 2050 and that no health system on earth is ready for it. But Dr. Claudia Suemoto says the outlook isn't hopeless: everyday choices around exercise, diet, and community can meaningfully lower your risk, especially if you start by around age 35.
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Research from an expert in sleep disorders at UT Health San Antonio has revealed that sleep disorders are common in the military, and the most common disorder impacts men and women in the military equally. It's COMISA, which is an acronym for comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea. -
Children who were born prematurely or have complex medical needs celebrated Halloween together at an ultra-accessible San Antonio theme park. Hundreds of costumed kids enjoyed rides and trick-or-treating at University Health's annual Fall Fest. -
Essential tremor affects up to 10 million U.S. adults, and for about half of patients, medication doesn’t control the shaking. UT Health San Antonio neurosurgeon Dr. Alexander Papanastassiou explains how MRI-guided focused ultrasound uses heat to target the part of the brain causing the tremor, typically reducing it by 80%.
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Petrie Dish: Measles can make the immune system forget how to fight germs it once knew how to defeatA measles infection can damage the body's defenses against pathogens to which it had built immunity through vaccination or infection. Immune amnesia can leave a person vulnerable for up to three years. An infectious diseases expert explains how you can protect yourself. -
Alcohol use disorder affects millions of Americans, but treatment options remain limited, and relapse is common. A UT Health San Antonio researcher is studying two unconventional approaches that he hopes could one day be combined into a single, more effective treatment.
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San Antonio native whose gifts put his name on UT Health San Antonio’s medical school has died at 96Joe R. Long and his late wife, Teresa Lozano Long, gave more than $70 million to UT Health San Antonio, and the medical school now bears both their names. Their philanthropy has supported more than 400 Long Scholars, many of them South Texans who were the first in their families to attend college. -
Eighty-five percent of combat veterans who received robot-guided magnetic stimulation with prolonged exposure therapy saw significant symptom relief, a substantial improvement over therapy alone.
