Michaeleen Doucleff
Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. For nearly a decade, she has been reporting for the radio and the web for NPR's global health outlet, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children's health.
In 2014, Doucleff was part of the team that earned a George Foster Peabody award for its coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. For the series, Doucleff reported on how the epidemic ravaged maternal health and how the virus spreads through the air. In 2019, Doucleff and Senior Producer Jane Greenhalgh produced a story about how Inuit parents teach children to control their anger. That story was the most popular one on NPR.org for the year; altogether readers have spent more than 16 years worth of time reading it.
In 2021, Doucleff published a book, called Hunt, Gather, Parent, stemming from her reporting at NPR. That book became a New York Times bestseller.
Before coming to NPR in 2012, Doucleff was an editor at the journal Cell, where she wrote about the science behind pop culture. Doucleff has a bachelor degree in biology from Caltech, a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Berkeley, California, and a master's degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.
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A majority of women say they want to breast-feed their babies. But only a small fraction reach that goal. Why is it so hard? Maybe the secrets of breast-feeding are in the past.
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Rodents, primates and bats likely carry hundreds of thousands of viruses we haven't yet identified. But how do you know which ones might infect humans? -
An inexpensive drug could dramatically reduce the number of deaths of mothers from bleeding after childbirth in low- and middle-income countries around the world. -
Bats, birds and tourists love a good cave. And so do viruses. Scientists say this mixture could trigger a deadly outbreak. -
If you think there are more dangerous infectious diseases than ever, you're right. One big reason: pushing animals like this one out of their homes. -
Zombie bacteria in defrosting reindeer carcasses brought anthrax back to Siberia. Now the government wants to slaughter 250,000 reindeer to stop the spread. -
Russia is experiencing its first anthrax outbreak in more than 70 years. One child died. Health officials think it might have been triggered by warming permafrost, which unleashed dormant bacteria. -
Most Americans will, at some point, suffer back pain, but there are a few cultures where back pain hardly exists. (This piece originally aired on June 8, 2015 on Morning Edition.)
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It has many names: Montezuma's Revenge. Delhi Belly. But the things that keep you healthy here (like washing your hands) turn out not to be that helpful against traveler's diarrhea. Here's what is.
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We're not talking about just a smidge. Roughly 10 percent of samples tested contained at least 10 percent cow's milk. Doctors say the diluted milk could be dangerous for babies for several reasons.
