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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The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the first at-home coronavirus test for emergency use during the pandemic. But it's expensive and requires a prescription.
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More than half of labs are reporting they're running short on test kits, pipettes and crucial chemicals.
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NPR correspondents discuss the latest on coronavirus cases around the U.S. and take a look at what the incoming Biden administration can and can't do about the surge during the transition.
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COVID-19 Cases In U.S. Reach Record Highs AgainThe U.S. has reached a new, worrisome high: it's surpassed a daily count of nearly 120 thousand new confirmed coronavirus cases, a 20 percent jump in just one week.
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Coronavirus cases are surging to record levels around the U.S.; hospitalizations and deaths also are rising, raising concerns about how the situation will develop in the winter.
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A general increase in mask-wearing has been encouraging, U.S. public health experts say. But too few young people, especially, are social distancing and taking other steps to slow coronavirus' spread.
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Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a "close contact" as spending a total of 15 minutes within 6 feet of an infected person over a 24-hour period.
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Coronavirus test results are coming back faster but still taking too long to help fight the pandemic effectively, a national survey shows.
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Coronavirus Test Results Get Faster, But Still Too Slow To Help Slow Disease SpreadThe average wait time for results has dropped to about three days, but that is still too slow to keep infected people from unknowingly spreading the virus, researchers report.
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The scientists' work led to a test to protect blood transfusion recipients from hepatitis C and drugs to treat the infection that have saved millions of lives, according to the Nobel Assembly.