Richard Knox
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.
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New advice to reduce heart attacks and strokes could more than double the number of Americans taking cholesterol-lowering statins to 56 million. The expansion could cost as much as $7 billion a year. -
States are legalizing marijuana even though there's no clear understanding of its impact on health. The drug hasn't been subjected to the kind of rigorous medical research that would find that out. -
A new virus in the Middle East has sickened more than 180 people and killed an alarming 43 percent of them. But scientists haven't been sure where the virus originates or how people catch it. -
Scientists have apparently been wrong about where new flu viruses come from, and they've underestimated the viruses' connection to horses. The dogma is that new viruses always incubate in wild migratory birds first, then get into domestic poultry, and then jump into mammals — especially pigs and humans. -
Barbara Mancini was charged with assisting her father's suicide by providing him with a lethal dose of morphine. A judge's decision in her favor is the latest in a series of developments signaling a reluctance of courts and state legislatures to criminalize medical care that may hasten death. -
The U.S. recently approved a drug that can quickly cure hepatitis C in many patients. But its high price means the treatment is out of reach for millions of people in the developing world. Now the pill's manufacturer is talking with Indian producers to reduce the treatment cost to $2,000. But critics say the price drop won't be enough. -
Men who take testosterone supplements double their risk of heart attacks, a study finds. That was true for men over 65 and for younger men with heart disease. Testosterone supplements have become increasingly popular as a way to counter flagging libido. -
Serving chicken, pigeon or duck for the holiday may be harder this year for some families in China and Hong Kong. As the deadly H7N9 virus continues to spread, officials in China have closed many live poultry markets, while agricultural workers in Hong Kong plan to cull thousands of chickens this week. -
Alarms are good and necessary things in hospital care — except when there are so many that caregivers miss signals of a patient in crisis. Trying to conquer "alarm fatigue," one hospital turned off the beeps — and found that patient care actually improved. -
Cigarettes can cause erectile dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. The surgeon general's latest report says these newly recognized harms aren't limited to smokers. Secondhand smoke carries the risks to others and raises the risk of stroke by up to 30 percent.
