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.
-
A new Harvard poll shows that only half of Americans trust the CDC — other health agencies were rated even lower. During a pandemic, trust is critical to the success of a public health response. -
The announcement, which effectively reverses a Trump-era rule, springs from last summer's landmark Supreme Court decision banning employment discrimination against LGBTQ people. -
The Biden administration announced a website and text line to help people find COVID-19 vaccines near where they live. It's a new and improved version of VaccineFinder, which launched in February. -
From now until August, you can sign up for or change coverage through the federal and state health insurance marketplaces. Many people are eligible for better or less expensive plans — or both. -
The Food and Drug Administration says Abbott's BinaxNOW test and Quidel's QuickVue can be sold without a prescription. -
If we want life to get back to normal in the U.S., public health experts say we can't just rely on COVID-19 vaccines. Other tools like contact tracing and care coordination are crucial too. -
The process of trying to get vaccinated can be confusing. A new platform from the federal government and private sector partners makes it easier to find a provider where you live. -
Vaccine eligibility has been expanded to all adults. Use NPR's tool to find out how to book an appointment. Plus, helpful advice about how to navigate the system. -
The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to Ellume's rapid test in December, after it showed 96% accuracy in a U.S. clinical study. -
The federal government announced several big changes to its vaccine plans, upending earlier guidance about whom to prioritize for the next phase.
