Rob Stein
Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk.
An award-winning science journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Stein mostly covers health and medicine. He tends to focus on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. He tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women's health issues, and other science, medical, and health policy news.
Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper's science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR's science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor of the international wire service in Washington.
Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. He was twice part of NPR teams that won Peabody Awards.
Stein frequently represents NPR, speaking at universities, international meetings and other venues, including the University of Cambridge in Britain, the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, and the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer's workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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Scientists have spotted yet another potentially worrisome coronavirus variant, a strain that has a mutation that may help it evade vaccines, and seems to be spreading fast in New York City.
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Scientists are evaluating domestic COVID-19 variants to see whether they pose a new threat, as public health experts warn the U.S. needs better surveillance to spot mutations and slow their spread.
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The Biden administration is promising 61 million rapid at-home tests by the summer. But critics say that's too few and way too late. -
As feared, the coronavirus varant first discovered in South Africa has been detected in the United States for the first time.
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Daily numbers of new cases are finally starting to wane, and hospitalizations are down slightly. But health care systems are still overburdened and another resurgence remains a threat.
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The deaths caused by the pandemic appear to be shortening overall life expectancy in the U.S. by 1.13 years, which would be the largest single decline in at least 40 years.
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Mask-wearing hit an all-time high, but other COVID-19 precautions are less common now than last spring, a survey finds. Experts worry we're ill-prepared for the spread of more infectious new variants.
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The pandemic has never been this bad in the U.S. There is not enough data yet to say whether the holidays accelerated the coronavirus surge, but many experts believe that the case.
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Experts argue that pushing out more COVID-19 vaccine doses to states sooner may be a good idea, even if it means there's a chance some people's second dose gets delayed.
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President-elect Biden plans to release almost all available doses of COVID-19 vaccines, stepping away from the Trump administration policy to hold back about half of the supplies for booster shots.
