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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Americans Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering "RNA interference," a way organisms turn off individual genes. The discovery is considered by many scientists to be a breakthrough in modern biology.
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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to two American researchers, Andrew Fire of Stanford University and Craig Mello of the University of Massachusetts. The pair, who discovered how to selectively silence genes that cause disease, will share the $1.4 million prize.
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At the international AIDS conference in Toronto, experts tell of successes in delivering treatments to the poorest corners of the world. But stresses are emerging: a weak health care system, a lack of drugs for children, and the high cost of therapies for those whose first-line treatment has failed. The most pressing problem is the failure of HIV prevention efforts to expand as fast as treatments have.
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When Congress expanded Medicare to include drug coverage, it ordered the National Institute of Medicine to look at what should be done to minimize medication errors. The agency says medication errors harm at least 1.5 million Americans every year.
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Bill Gates surprised even his closest advisers when he said his dream is to eliminate the world's top 20 diseases in his lifetime. Gates-watchers say it's not naïve over-reaching. The Gateses have an optimistic belief in technology and management that, combined with their resources, could make a difference.
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A new analysis suggests that asthma medications containing the drug salmeterol can increase the risk of hospitalization for any form of asthma. The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine revives the debate whether these medications should stay on the market.
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Twenty-five years after the first report of AIDS, the long quest for a vaccine against HIV has largely been disappointing. Despite some advances, researchers say the vaccines now being tested are not likely to fully protect people against getting infected.
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A draft flu-pandemic response plan from the federal government says a worst-case scenario could kill as many as 2 million people in the United States. The draft Bush administration plan is an update to the $7.1 billion in pandemic preparations that it proposed last fall. The plan outlines exactly which government agency is responsible for about 300 tasks.
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A new study in the journal Sleep provides the strongest evidence yet that the unregulated dietary supplement melatonin helps people get a good night's sleep. Researchers found that it works as well as prescription sleep aids now on the market. Melatonin is available over the counter.
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Researchers say they've successfully treated monkeys who were infected with Marburg virus, a cousin of the Ebola virus. This is the first time a vaccine has been shown to be effective as a treatment for deadly viruses like Marburg.
