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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A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that flu deaths are on the rise in the United States. Fatalities related to influenza increased from about 20,000 per year in the 1970s to about 36,000 per year in the 1990s. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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Reproductive researchers are skeptical of a claim that a human clone was born Thursday to a 31-year-old American woman. At the very least the announcement by Clonaid, a business with ties to the Raelian religious movement, is likely to intensify a debate over the ethics and practicality of cloning. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and NPR's Joanne Silberner.
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If today's claim of a cloned baby turns out to be a hoax, it won't be the first time. Twenty-four years ago, journalist David Rorvik published a highly publicized book that claimed a reclusive millionaire had assembled a team that cloned a human. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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Research suggests vacations are usually a good idea, health-wise. But at least one study finds that time-off isn't good for everybody. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports on the health effects of vacation.
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Health officials in Maine plan emergency meetings Thursday in response to a Tuesday court decision that could shut down a program that helps lower-income people buy prescription drugs. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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President Bush announces a plan to make an effective but risky smallpox vaccine available to all Americans. Military personnel and health care workers will get the innoculations first -- the front-line defense against a potential bioterror attack. Availability of vaccine played a big part in the administration's approach to the threat. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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President Bush is set to announce a plan to vaccinate all Americans against smallpox. The general population won't be offered the inoculation until 2004. Meanwhile, soldiers and "first-response" personnel prepare for early inoculations. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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A study in the journal Lancet shows magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may prove effective as an early detector of schizophrenia. MRIs are scans that show a living brain in fine detail. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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The Amsterdam, a ship of the Holland America line, cancels a Caribbean cruise and returns to port. Hundreds have suffered from a stomach virus during the liner's past four voyages. The ship will be sanitized. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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As older Americans struggle to pay for prescription drugs, some have begun ordering their medicine from Canada. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports that states are trying to crack down on the practice, citing safety concerns.
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Nearly 800,000 children worldwide die each year of measles, according to a new report. In some places, only 5 percent of children receive needed vaccines. In some West African nations, hospitals have converted measles wards into space for people with HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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A new study further complicates the decision-making process for women who are considering hormone replacement therapy. Recent bad news is offset by a finding that HRT may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.