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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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 apparently embraces the outdated "miasma theory" of disease instead of the widely accept "germ theory" of disease, which may help explain some of the actions he's been taking. -
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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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. -
The federal government has removed COVID-19 vaccines from the list of shots recommended for healthy pregnant women and children. The change is raising concerns among some independent experts.
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The Trump administration will require that all new vaccines get tested against a placebo, a move that could make it harder to make new vaccines available, including the next COVID-19 shots.
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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says autism is "epidemic" and he's launching research to identify an "environmental toxin" for blame. Independent scientists and advocates are skeptical.
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The new research will study the physical and mental health effects of gender transition. It comes on the heels of the administration cutting hundreds of research grants for LGBTQ+ health. -
It was a chaotic week for the nation's health agencies, as layoff notices rolled in along with an order for deep cuts to contract spending. NPR's health reporters tell us what they've learned.
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Medical researchers say the Trump administration's plan to reduce payments for indirect research costs will hamper the search for new cures. A visit to University of Maryland lab studying how viruses spread to illustrates the impact.
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It's an unusual winter for respiratory illnesses. The flu is peaking twice: once in early January and again in February. Meanwhile, it's the mildest COVID winter since the pandemic began.
