One of the recurring themes in early childhood research is that early is rarely early enough. Positive back-and-forth interactions between kids and caregivers are key to building budding brains, while their absence can lead to kids who suffer the longterm effects of what experts call "toxic stress."
A reporting trip that set out to investigate the causes behind a mysterious childhood cancer cluster turned into a valuable lesson in embracing a truer kind of complexity — not the twists and turns of a mystery novel’s plot, but the unpredictable emotions that guide real people’s lives.
When I tackled the topic of loneliness as a 2013 National Health Journalism Fellowship project, I honestly didn't think it would be hard to find people who were lonely so that I could write about the issue. I was right and wrong.
Has your child has his tonsils removed or head scanned lately? Whether or not you said yes may have something to do with where you call home. That variation in care is raising some red flags.
By 2012, when I started my fellowship project, several journalists -- in Philadelphia and nationally -- had written extensively about the “built environment,” food deserts and healthy food access. For my project, I looked to answer the question: “What else in a neighborhood matters to health?”
It is difficult not to view poverty-stricken farmworkers as victims and pesticide manufacturers (and those of us who benefit from them) as perpetrators. Yet, my reporting demonstrated the complexity of the issues involved, leaving me with the uneasy sense that there was no clear-cut solution.
The U.S. locks up more individuals per capita than any other country in the world. We have 2.2 million people behind bars – up 500% from 30 years ago. This situation raises important questions for policy makers, and it’s a rich area for journalistic exploration.
Virginia houses approximately 30,000 inmates annually in state prisons, making the Department of Corrections the most expensive agency in Richmond, with a billion dollar annual budget. It spends $160 million on healthcare, but critics say that care is inadequate.
More than a decade of research in the Salinas Valley of California - one of the most thriving agriculture regions in the world - has shed light on environmental hazards and their potential health risks.
Unyque Jackson started kindergarten in Oakland. Her parents divorced when she was five. And Unyque moved to the San Joaquin Valley where she lived in her father’s house and was raised by her grandmother.
