Scott Hensley
Scott Hensley edits stories about health, biomedical research and pharmaceuticals for NPR's Science desk. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has led the desk's reporting on the development of vaccines against the coronavirus.
Hensley has worked on award-winning investigations in collaboration with journalistic partners.
He was the lead NPR editor on an investigation with the Center for Public Integrity in 2018 that exposed drug industry influence on the choices of preferred medicines by Medicaid programs. The work won the 2019 Gerald Loeb Award for audio reporting.
In 2017, Hensley was the lead NPR editor on an investigation with Kaiser Health News that showed how the pharmaceutical industry exploits government incentives intended to encourage the development of treatments for rare diseases. The stories won the 2019 digital award from the National Institute for Health Care Management.
Hensley has been editing in his current role since 2019. He joined NPR in 2009 to launch Shots, a blog that expanded to become a digital destination for NPR health coverage.
Before NPR, Hensley was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal. He was the founding editor of The Wall Street Journal Health Blog, which focused on the intersection of health and business. As a reporter, he covered the drug industry and the Human Genome Project.
Hensley served on the board of the Association of Health Care Journalists from 2012 to 2020.
He has a bachelor's degree in natural sciences from Johns Hopkins University and a master's in journalism from Columbia University.
Before becoming a journalist, Hensley worked in the medical device industry. He remains, now and forever, a lover of Dobermans, lacrosse and Callinectes sapidus.
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Animal tests have been encouraging, but there's no guarantee the new vaccine will work in people. Several vaccines against Ebola have been tested before, but none has made it to the finish line.
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NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a poll in March and early April to find out how stress is affecting people in the U.S. Here's what we found.
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Abuse of narcotic painkillers is a national problem. But it turns out that where you live can make a big difference in how likely you are to get a prescription for the medicines.
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Results trump courtesies when a person's health is on the line, some people said. No, others responded, saying that proper treatment also requires a human touch.
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Doctors and patients are trying to balance the need for pain relief and the potential for trouble. In an NPR poll, addiction and side effects were the top concerns.
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Chemicals in cigarette smoke can settle on clothes, furniture and walls. Researchers call this thirdhand smoke and say laboratory experiments suggest it could be hazardous.