Rob Stein
Rob Stein is a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk.
An award-winning science journalist with more than 30 years of experience, Stein mostly covers health and medicine. He tends to focus on stories that illustrate the intersection of science, health, politics, social trends, ethics, and federal science policy. He tracks genetics, stem cells, cancer research, women's health issues, and other science, medical, and health policy news.
Before NPR, Stein worked at The Washington Post for 16 years, first as the newspaper's science editor and then as a national health reporter. Earlier in his career, Stein spent about four years as an editor at NPR's science desk. Before that, he was a science reporter for United Press International (UPI) in Boston and the science editor of the international wire service in Washington.
Stein's work has been honored by many organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Association of Health Care Journalists. He was twice part of NPR teams that won Peabody Awards.
Stein frequently represents NPR, speaking at universities, international meetings and other venues, including the University of Cambridge in Britain, the World Conference of Science Journalists in South Korea, and the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.
Stein is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He completed a journalism fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health, a program in science and religion at the University of Cambridge, and a summer science writer's workshop at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass.
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Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a "close contact" as spending a total of 15 minutes within 6 feet of an infected person over a 24-hour period.
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Coronavirus test results are coming back faster but still taking too long to help fight the pandemic effectively, a national survey shows.
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President Trump says he is feeling well, but questions about his health continue to swirl just over a week after his tweet that he'd tested positive for the coronavirus.
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Trump's physician said Trump could resume "public engagements" as soon as Saturday. But experts say that may be too soon, both for his own health and the safety of those around him. -
President Trump and the first lady have contracted the coronavirus. At 74, Trump could be at risk of developing serious complications from the virus.
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Some public health experts hope the growing availability of faster, cheaper tests could lead to a new strategy of widespread testing — one that could finally get the pandemic under control.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its controversial suggestion that people who have been exposed to someone with the virus don't need to be tested if they have no symptoms.
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The Trump administration has blocked the Food and Drug Administration from regulating many new tests, raising concerns about the reliability of new coronavirus tests and the FDA's independence.
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Many localities require a negative coronavirus test for various activities, such as traveling or visiting an older relative. But finding a test with a quick enough turnaround can be challenging.
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During an online forum sponsored by Harvard, Dr. Anthony Fauci discusses how his high-profile position has affected his family personally.
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The coronavirus outbreak is getting worse in many parts of the country, and the U.S. will likely need to learn to cope with having the virus be a part of life for many more months.
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The National Institutes of Health is giving $248.7 million dollars to seven companies developing new technologies for testing, including use of the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR.
