Selena Simmons-Duffin
Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on health policy for NPR.
She has worked at NPR for ten years as a show editor and producer, with one stopover at WAMU in 2017 as part of a staff exchange. For four months, she reported local Washington, DC, health stories, including a secretive maternity ward closure and a gesundheit machine.
Before coming to All Things Considered in 2016, Simmons-Duffin spent six years on Morning Edition working shifts at all hours and directing the show. She also drove the full length of the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014 for the "Borderland" series.
She won a Gracie Award in 2015 for creating a video called "Talking While Female," and a 2014 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award for producing a series on why you should love your microbes.
Simmons-Duffin attended Stanford University, where she majored in English. She took time off from college to do HIV/AIDS-related work in East Africa. She started out in radio at Stanford's radio station, KZSU, and went on to study documentary radio at the Salt Institute, before coming to NPR as an intern in 2009.
She lives in Washington, DC, with her spouse and kids.
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A large share of the nearly 1 million people who died of COVID in the U.S. may have lived if they'd gotten vaccinated. A new analysis shows how many lives could have been saved across the country.
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Abortion providers explain the myriad circumstances in which someone might end a pregnancy. Situations can be complex, plus, pregnancy can be risky.
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The U.S. assistant secretary for health, who will speak at Texas Christian University, says physicians need to be more vocal in fighting politically motivated attacks on vulnerable trans youth. -
On Monday, a federal judge struck down the CDC's mask mandate for public transportation. Less than 24 hours later, videos emerged on social media of passengers celebrating.
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Federal officials have a favorite refrain about COVID-19: "We have the tools." There's just one problem: As those who have worked to end HIV for decades know, just having the tools is not enough.
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Some of the most powerful people in Washington, including senators and cabinet members, tested positive for COVID-19 this week. Meanwhile, federal funding for the pandemic response is running out.
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Congress failed to approve billions in new funding to fight COVID-19. Among threatened program cuts are free treatments for COVID patients who are uninsured.
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As states begin to relax mask mandates, individuals have to make their own decisions about how and when to mask.
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Swamped by thousands of calls a day, contact tracing programs have been forced to adapt. Even though they can't call everyone, experts say it's too early to give up on this pillar of disease control.
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The White House launched two new efforts to help Americans get free access to rapid COVID tests. It's still hard to find tests, and reimbursement for tests bought at a store isn't necessarily easy.
