Joe Neel
Joe Neel is NPR's deputy senior supervising editor and a correspondent on the Science Desk.
As a leader of NPR's award-winning health and science team, Neel directs coverage of breaking news in health and science, ranging from disease outbreaks and advances in medical research to debates over health reform and public health.
Joe also plays a key role in overseeing the Science Desk's award-winning enterprise reporting. Among his current projects and responsibilities, Neel supervises the Monday "Your Health" segment on Morning Edition. He also directs several ongoing editorial partnerships. One, a partnership with Kaiser Health News and public radio member stations, focuses on health care in the United States. Another is a polling project on health issues with the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Neel has played a key role in expanding the network's coverage of global health and development issues. He is currently focused on domestic health issues, including cutting-edge biomedical research and developments in the health industry, such as the Affordable Care Act.
In 2008, he launched NPR's "Your Health" podcast and helped launch and grow "Shots," NPR's health blog, in 2010.
In addition to his responsibilities at NPR's Science Desk, Neel also regularly serves as newsroom manager, overseeing the network's overall news coverage.
During his tenure as editor, NPR's health reporters and correspondents have won numerous awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the National Academy of Sciences Communication Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society for Professional Journalists, the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting on Congress, the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Journalism Prize, and the Association of Health Care Journalism award. Neel was awarded the prestigious Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellowship in 2007.
Neel started filing stories about medicine and health as a freelancer for NPR in 1994 and joined the staff two years later.
He earned bachelor degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in both biology and German literature and language. He also studied biology at the Universitaet Tuebingen in Germany.
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A new poll from NPR, Harvard and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gives a glimpse into rural life in America today, finding that many people living in rural communities live on the edge financially. -
What's on people's minds in rural America? A new poll shows that the addiction crisis and economic issues have people worried. But many retain an upbeat outlook about the future of their communities.
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The pair of immunologists won for their discovery of cancer therapy that works by harnessing the body's own immune system.
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Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is stepping down. This follows reports that she invested in tobacco company stocks after she began leading the agency.
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Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald had "complex financial interests," according to a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services. News reports say she bought tobacco stock while CDC director. -
A new study finds that people who are overweight, but not obese, have shorter life spans. It's the opposite of a 2013 study that got a lot of attention by finding a few pounds might be good for you. -
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants adults to remember that vaccines aren't just for kids. Whooping cough, shingles, tetanus, and several other illnesses are still big problems in the U.S., mostly because adults aren't getting the shots they need. -
A Catholic priest and the Indian Red Cross have created what some say is a model for AIDS care in the developing world: a combination hospital and community center.
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Research suggests several popular painkillers may increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems. NPR's Joe Neel answers questions about naproxen, Celebrex and other painkillers now under scrutiny.
