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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A new study finds that aggressively lowering cholesterol levels far below current recommendations can substantially reduce the risk of heart attacks and other heart disease. Experts say the results of the study, which looked at high-intensity treatment with drugs known as statins, are likely to alter heart disease treatment. Hear NPR's Renee Montagne and NPR's Richard Knox.
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A new study finds that high-intensity treatment with drugs known as statins may help keep heart arteries from getting clogged with cholesterol. The results -- dramatically lower cholesterol levels -- may in turn prevent heart attacks and other heart disease. The study was released Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
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New studies suggest that the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed 20 million people, started as a bird flu virus. The finding troubles health officials, who worry a similar scenario is developing in Asia. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises hospitals and doctors' offices to have patients wear a mask if they arrive with a cough and a fever. The precaution is designed to help prevent health workers from getting sick and help prevent patients in hospitals from getting SARS. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
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American Paul Lauterbur and Briton Sir Peter Mansfield receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discoveries leading to a technique known as magnetic resonance imaging. MRI is now a routine procedure used to examine the brain and inner organs without surgery. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.
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The world's nerve center for disease detection is located in Geneva, Switzerland, at the World Health Organization. They've found a new way of combating disease, trying to spot it at its earliest stages and nip it in bud. WHO looks at what's going on everyday everywhere, assisted heavily by the Web. No longer can countries hide and obfuscate outbreaks, or even minimize them. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
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Wisconsin health officials are investigating at least three possible cases of human-to-human infection of monkeypox. If confirmed, they would be the first cases of person-to-person spread of the disease in the United States. The U.S. outbreak of the disease has so far involved people who got infected from pets. NPR's Richard Knox reports.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends smallpox vaccinations for people exposed to monkeypox, a similar disease transmitted from some animals to humans. And officials ban sales of prairie dogs and imports of six species of African rodents tied to the spread of the disease. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.
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Doctors say they now realize that the latest outbreak of SARS in Toronto was "smoldering" in North York General Hospital for several weeks, even as health officials were relaxing precautions. SARS worries are hammering Toronto's economy. NPR's Richard Knox and Robert Siegel report.
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Toronto health officials investigate five possible new cases of sudden acute respiratory syndrome, and have quarantined about 20 health workers as a result. But there's also promising news about the possible source of SARS. A similar virus has been found in several types of animals in southern China. NPR's Richard Knox reports.