Richard Knox

Credit Jacques Coughlin

Since he joined NPR in 2000, Knox has covered a broad range of issues and events in public health, medicine, and science. His reports can be heard on NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Talk of the Nation, and newscasts.

Among other things, Knox's NPR reports have examined the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa, North America, and the Caribbean; anthrax terrorism; smallpox and other bioterrorism preparedness issues; the rising cost of medical care; early detection of lung cancer; community caregiving; music and the brain; and the SARS epidemic.

Before joining NPR, Knox covered medicine and health for The Boston Globe. His award-winning 1995 articles on medical errors are considered landmarks in the national movement to prevent medical mistakes. Knox is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Columbia University. He has held yearlong fellowships at Stanford and Harvard Universities, and is the author of a 1993 book on Germany's health care system.

He and his wife Jean, an editor, live in Boston. They have two daughters.

Recovery Begins For Mother, Daughter Injured In Boston

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Credit Ellen Webber for NPR

Celeste Corcoran is transported to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital on April 28.

Credit Ellen Webber for NPR

Celeste Corcoran (right) and her daughter Sydney Corcoran are transported to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital from Boston Medical Center on April 28. Sydney, who nearly bled to death after being struck by shrapnel in her thigh, is expected to recover most if not all function. Celeste required amputations of both legs. Doctors say the next phase of her recovery will be a holding pattern.

By Richard Knox

Originally published on Fri May 3, 2013 3:19 pm

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The number of Boston bombing victims still in the hospital dropped to 19 as of Wednesday evening. The great majority have gone home or to a rehab facility.

That's what has happened with Celeste and Sydney Corcoran, a mother-daughter pair who ended up in the same hospital room after being struck down by the first marathon bomb blast.

5:04 pm

Fri April 5, 2013

Human Cases Of Bird Flu In China Draw Scrutiny

Credit Wang Zhao / AFP/Getty Images

A cockerel walks on a bridge in a residential area of Beijing. The Chinese are beginning to destroy thousands of birds in an effort to stamp out the presumed source of H7N9 infection.

By Richard Knox

Originally published on Mon April 8, 2013 5:09 pm

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Sixteen cases of a new flu around Shanghai have touched off a major effort to determine what kind of threat this new bug might be.

The victims range in age from 4 to 87 years old. Six have died. It is a tragedy for them and their families, but is it a global crisis?

To understand why so few cases are generating so much concern, the first thing to know is that no flu virus like this one — called H7N9 — has ever been known to infect humans before.

2:21 am

Mon April 1, 2013

As Stroke Risk Rises Among Younger Adults, So Does Early Death

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Credit David Wright/Redux Pictures for NPR

When Melissa McCann (left) suffered a stroke in 2007, her twin sister, Terry Blanchard, helped her make a full recovery. McCann is now back to work as a flight nurse with Life Flight at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Credit David Wright/Redux Pictures for NPR

Doctors think an abnormal hole between the two upper chambers of McCann's heart allowed a blood clot to move to her brain and cause her stroke.

By Richard Knox

Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 7:50 am

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Most people (including a lot of doctors) think of a stroke as something that happens to old people. But the rate is increasing among those in their 50s, 40s and even younger.

In one recent 10-year period, the rate of strokes in Americans younger than 55 went up 84 percent among whites and 54 percent among blacks. One in 5 strokes now occurs in adults 20 to 55 years old — up from 1 in 8 in the mid-1990s.

2:22 am

Mon March 18, 2013

To Control Asthma, Start With The Home Instead Of The Child

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Credit Richard Knox / NPR

Maria Texeira-Gomes holds a photo of her 5-year-old son, Matheo, who has struggled with asthma nearly all his life.

Credit Richard Knox / NPR

Maria Texeira-Gomes talks with Margie Lorenzi, a community health worker, about the progress they are making with her son's asthma.

By Richard Knox

Originally published on Tue March 19, 2013 9:36 am

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Nothing sends more kids to the hospital than asthma.

So when doctors at Children's Hospital in Boston noticed they kept seeing an unusually high number of asthmatic kids from certain low-income neighborhoods, they wondered if they could do something about the environment these kids were living in.

11:43 pm

Sun March 3, 2013

Scientists Report First Cure of HIV In A Child, Say It's A Game-Changer

Credit NIAID_Flickr

HIV particles, yellow, infect an immune cell, blue.

By Richard Knox

Originally published on Mon March 4, 2013 12:02 pm

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Scientists believe a little girl born with HIV has been cured of the infection.

She's the first child and only the second person in the world known to have been cured since the virus touched off a global pandemic nearly 32 years ago.

Doctors aren't releasing the child's name, but we know she was born in Mississippi and is now 2 1/2 years old — and healthy. Scientists presented details of the case Sunday at a scientific conference in Atlanta.

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2:03 am

Thu May 2, 2013