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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Scientists have recorded a human embryo implanting in a womb in real time. The implications of how it happens could lead to more and better treatments for infertility.
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The Trump administration canceled about $500 million for research into mRNA vaccines. The move slows progress in using the technology to prevent a future pandemic or treat disease, experts say.
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There's a fresh push to edit the genes of human embryos to prevent diseases and enhance characteristics that parents value. Bioethicists say just because it's possible doesn't mean it should be done.
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Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. announced that CDC recommendations for COVID vaccines will no longer include healthy pregnant women and healthy children.
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Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó and American immunologist Drew Weissman found that a chemical change to genetic code called mRNA eliminated a problematic side effect when used in vaccines.
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The Biden administration is scrapping plans to offer COVID boosters for people under 50 this summer. Instead officials will push for an earlier release of the next generation boosters in the fall.
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People who are 50 and older and certain immunocompromised individuals may get a second Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster four months after they received the first.
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New research out of New York found the protection of the vaccine against infection in kids ages 5 to 11 dropped from 68% to 12%.
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University of Washington research predicts the omicron wave will infect more than 400,000 people a day in the U.S. when it crests in about six weeks.
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Scientists are projecting the surge will peak in January. Just how massive it could be depends on how quickly Americans get boosted and change behavior to slow the spread.