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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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. -
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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Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. announced that CDC recommendations for COVID vaccines will no longer include healthy pregnant women and healthy children. -
Federal officials unveiled a rigorous regulatory approach to future COVID vaccines that could make it harder for many people under 65 to get immunized. -
For the first time, doctors have created a customized treatment using the revolutionary gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to treat a baby with a rare, life-threatening genetic disorder. -
The Trump administration has launched a $500 million project to develop a universal flu vaccine that won't need yearly updates. But vaccine experts are mystified by its focus on a dated technology. -
The interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has sent letters to several leading medical journals asking for information about their editorial practices. -
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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The Department of Health and Human Services says it will require new vaccines to be tested against a placebo, which could complicate and delay Food and Drug Administration approval of many vaccines.
