Rae Ellen Bichell
Rae Ellen Bichell is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She first came to NPR in 2013 as a Kroc fellow and has since reported Web and radio stories on biomedical research, global health, and basic science. She won a 2016 Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award from the Foundation for Biomedical Research. After graduating from Yale University, she spent two years in Helsinki, Finland, as a freelance reporter and Fulbright grantee.
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The health care industry is obsessed with consumer satisfaction. But national patient surveys still don't get at an important question: Are hospitals delivering culturally competent care? -
With kids back in school, business is picking back up for professional delousers. But how are kids getting head lice if they're physically distancing in the classroom? -
Obstetrical emergency departments are a new aspect of some hospitals that can inflate medical bills for even the easiest, healthiest births. Just ask baby Gus' parents about their $2,755 ER charge. -
The CDC sent in a team to investigate a delta variant hotspot in Mesa County, Colo. That didn't stop tens of thousands of people from flocking to the state's largest country music festival. -
A college student never learned the cause of intense pain that drove her to an ER, but her bill totaled $18,735.93. She and her mom, a nurse practitioner, were outraged after dissecting the charges. -
Two Colorado counties are feuding as one has lax virus prevention rules which the other says are a problem because it has the hospitals that serve both populations.
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Scores of counties across the U.S. have no local newspaper. Even some that do say they're not being well-served by them. Longmont, Colo., is looking at one possibility: newsrooms in libraries.
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NASA plans to send people to the Red Planet in the 2030s. In the meantime, a remote location in southern Utah serves as a non-NASA training ground for the Mars-minded. -
Sonia Vallabh knows that by the time she's middle-aged, a rare inherited disease will likely start killing off her brain cells. She and her husband have become scientists to try to stop the disease. -
They're the Godzillas of the virus world, pushing the limit of what is considered alive. Researchers are trying to figure out where they came from. (And no, they aren't known to make people sick.)
