Selena Simmons-Duffin
Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on health policy for NPR.
She has worked at NPR for ten years as a show editor and producer, with one stopover at WAMU in 2017 as part of a staff exchange. For four months, she reported local Washington, DC, health stories, including a secretive maternity ward closure and a gesundheit machine.
Before coming to All Things Considered in 2016, Simmons-Duffin spent six years on Morning Edition working shifts at all hours and directing the show. She also drove the full length of the U.S.-Mexico border in 2014 for the "Borderland" series.
She won a Gracie Award in 2015 for creating a video called "Talking While Female," and a 2014 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award for producing a series on why you should love your microbes.
Simmons-Duffin attended Stanford University, where she majored in English. She took time off from college to do HIV/AIDS-related work in East Africa. She started out in radio at Stanford's radio station, KZSU, and went on to study documentary radio at the Salt Institute, before coming to NPR as an intern in 2009.
She lives in Washington, DC, with her spouse and kids.
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Federal officials have a favorite refrain about COVID-19: "We have the tools." There's just one problem: As those who have worked to end HIV for decades know, just having the tools is not enough.
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As states begin to relax mask mandates, individuals have to make their own decisions about how and when to mask.
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The White House launched two new efforts to help Americans get free access to rapid COVID tests. It's still hard to find tests, and reimbursement for tests bought at a store isn't necessarily easy.
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The new CDC guidelines for COVID-19 isolation and quarantine have garnered a lot of criticism. And this is just one example of the agency's on going communication problems.
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Scientists may not know for a couple weeks yet how risky the new coronavirus variant will be to public health. But getting out front now about what is known helps dispel misinformation, they say. -
Physicians weigh in on what you need to know about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, and how to think about the risks and benefits of vaccinating your kid
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The open enrollment period to buy health insurance on HealthCare.gov starts now and runs through Jan. 15, 2022. Look for more options and expanded subsidies this year — and more help signing up.
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There are a couple of big steps to get through before U.S. kids under 12 might be able to get the vaccine. Here's how the process works and when the shots could arrive.
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These services can make the difference between being able to live at home with family or landing in a nursing facility. But state Medicaid programs don't always pay for them.
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A family in Houston and a plumber in Maryland couldn't afford rent, which pushed them into crowded living quarters. During the COVID-19 pandemic, that common predicament has increased viral spread.
