Lauren Silverman
Lauren Silverman is the Health, Science & Technology reporter/blogger at KERA News. She is also the primary backup host for KERA’s Think and the statewide newsmagazine Texas Standard. In 2016, Lauren was recognized as Texas Health Journalist of the Year by the Texas Medical Association. She was part of the Peabody Award-winning team that covered Ebola for NPR in 2014. She also hosted "Surviving Ebola," a special that won Best Long Documentary honors from the Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). And she's won a number of regional awards, including an honorable mention for Edward R. Murrow award (for her project “The Broken Hip”), as well as the Texas Veterans Commission’s Excellence in Media Awards in the radio category.
Before joining KERA, Lauren worked at NPR’s weekend All Things Considered in Washington, D.C. There, she produced national stories on everything from the politics of climate change to the future of online education. While at All Things Considered, Lauren also produced a piece on neighborhood farms in Compton, Calif., that won a National Association of Black Journalism’s Salute to Excellence Award.
As a freelance reporter, Lauren has written and recorded stories in English and Spanish for a variety of news outlets, including NPR's Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Here & Now; American Public Media’s Marketplace; Sound Medicine and Latino USA.
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Giving people who have serious mental illness peer support has proved so helpful that some states are starting to pay these peer specialists to bridge the gap when there aren't enough professionals. -
Teenage pregnancy rates have declined across the country, but some parts of Texas have made much less progress on that. Abstinence-only sex ed policies may be one reason why. -
A quarter of doctors practicing in the U.S. went to medical school elsewhere. Many of these physicians practice in parts of this country that the government says need more primary care providers. -
According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis now kills more people worldwide than HIV/AIDS, and cases of the disease have increased in Texas.… -
The agency has decided to leave kratom off its list of highly restricted drugs for now. The DEA is asking for public comment and help from the Food and Drug Administration in evaluating kratom. -
Trying to prevent gun violence by tying it to mental health legislation began in 1966 when a young gunman killed 16 people in Austin, Texas. But some believe the approach is misguided. -
It’s common to train service dogs to help veterans with physical disabilities. But how about helping them with post traumatic stress disorder? The… -
Medical school applications have gone way up in the past few decades. But one group of applicants has not grown: black men. -
A hands-free mouse that responds to head rotation and facial movements; an app that transcribes conversations to text for the hearing impaired; a wearable… -
As consulting a doctor exclusively by phone, text or video becomes more popular, the Texas Medical Board moves to restrict these e-visits. Is the real battle over patient safety, money or turf?
