Joanne Silberner
Joanne Silberner is a health policy correspondent for National Public Radio. She covers medicine, health reform, and changes in the health care marketplace.
Silberner has been with NPR since 1992. Prior to that she spent five years covering consumer health and medical research at U.S. News & World Report. In addition she has worked at Science News magazine, Science Digest, and has freelanced for various publications. She has been published in The Washington Post, Health, USA Today, American Health, Practical Horseman, Encyclopedia Britannica, and others.
She was a fellow for a year at the Harvard School of Public Health, and from 1997-1998, she had a Kaiser Family Foundation media fellowship. During that fellowship she chronicled the closing of a state mental hospital. Silberner also had a fellowship to study the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Silberner has won awards for her work from the Society of Professional Journalists, the New York State Mental Health Association, the March of Dimes, Easter Seals, the American Heart Association, and others. Her work has also earned her a Unity Award and a Clarion Award.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Silberner holds her B.A. in biology. She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
She currently resides in Washington, D.C.
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GlaxoSmithKlein, the manufacturer of the antidepressant Paxil, has released on its company Web site reports of unpublished clinical tests of that drug in children and adolescents suffering from depression. Paxil is not approved for use in children but some doctors have prescribed it off label. SmithKline officials have denied that they selectively disclosed clinical trial findings. This is the first time that this data on Paxil have been made public and NPR's Joanne Silberner looks at whether it will give a different picture of the safety and efficacy of the drug.
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The federal government has just issued the largest survey to date of Americans' use of complementary and alternative medicine. The findings compile data on who uses alternative treatments like echinacea and acupuncture, and why. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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Medicare's drug discount drug program starts June 1, but seniors and advocacy groups say the process is still confusing. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports from a class that is trying to help seniors get the best deal for them.
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An analysis by the British medical journal The Lancet of unpublished drug company studies done on children and teens who take antidepressants concludes that only one drug, fluoxetine (known also by the brand name Prozac), was not associated with negative outcomes for children with depression. Last year, Britain's Committee on Safety of Medicines prohibited the treatment of childhood depression with any antidepressant except fluoxetine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not taken this action, though it has approved only fluoxetine for children. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports on whether the new analysis sheds more light on the controversy about these medications.
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There were signs in the second phase of the SARS epidemic in Toronto that health care workers were ready to stage walkouts. The reason - partly danger from working around contagious patients. But more basic labor issues also came into play, such as forced overtime and harsh working conditions. If an epidemic takes off and lasts a while, will workers stay on the job? NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that removing diseased lung tissue to treat emphysema may be most beneficial to the sickest patients, those with upper lung damage. But the experimental surgery actually increased the death rate in less ill patients with disease in the bottom part of the lungs. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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A global campaign to wipe out polio is changing its battle plan. The Polio Eradication Initiative says it's ending large-scale polio immunization programs in 80 countries to concentrate funds on a handful of nations that face the biggest threat. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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The University of Hong Kong research team that first identified the coronavirus that causes SARS applies for a U.S. patent for the virus. The group plans to charge licensing fees to companies that want to manufacture related products but says it will give discounts to academic researchers. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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The World Health Organization removes the United States and the United Kingdom from the list of areas significantly affected by SARS. Health officials are treating with caution news of 12 possible relapses reported in Hong Kong. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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Scientists have made rapid gains in learning about the SARS virus. But some predict it could be years before there's a vaccine. The World Health Organization says 5,900 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome have now been reported and that 212 victims have died. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.