Rob Stein
Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk.
An award-winning science journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Stein mostly covers health and medicine. He tends to focus on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. He tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women's health issues, and other science, medical, and health policy news.
Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper's science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR's science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor of the international wire service in Washington.
Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. He was twice part of NPR teams that won Peabody Awards.
Stein frequently represents NPR, speaking at universities, international meetings and other venues, including the University of Cambridge in Britain, the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, and the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer's workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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This summer's COVID-19 surge appears to have begun, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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For decades, scientists have been trying to create artificial blood to alleviate shortages and prevent people from bleeding to death. But those efforts have been repeatedly frustrated by failure.
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The agency is closing the Office of Research and Development, which analyzes dangers posed by hazards including toxic chemicals, climate change, smog, wildfires, water pollution and more. -
An experimental technique that patches defective DNA with donated genetic material helped families at risk of passing rare illnesses to their children. -
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. apparently embraces the outdated "miasma theory" of disease instead of the widely accept "germ theory" of disease, which may help explain some of the actions he's been taking. -
In a public letter, hundreds of scientists expressed their dissent to the Trump administration's policies affecting the National Institutes of Health and called on its director to support the agency. -
Federal health officials have changed the game for COVID vaccine access. Pregnant moms and others who rely on them to protect a high-risk family member are scared. -
Some healthy pregnant women, parents of healthy kids and younger healthy adults are worried they won't be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because of the recent changes in access by the federal government.
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Public health experts worry the flurry of steps by the Trump administration about vaccines is undermining public access and confidence in vaccines.
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The Department of Health and Human Services is ending a $766 million contract with the vaccine company Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine for flu strains with pandemic potential, including bird flu.
