Joanne Silberner
Joanne Silberner is a health policy correspondent for National Public Radio. She covers medicine, health reform, and changes in the health care marketplace.
Silberner has been with NPR since 1992. Prior to that she spent five years covering consumer health and medical research at U.S. News & World Report. In addition she has worked at Science News magazine, Science Digest, and has freelanced for various publications. She has been published in The Washington Post, Health, USA Today, American Health, Practical Horseman, Encyclopedia Britannica, and others.
She was a fellow for a year at the Harvard School of Public Health, and from 1997-1998, she had a Kaiser Family Foundation media fellowship. During that fellowship she chronicled the closing of a state mental hospital. Silberner also had a fellowship to study the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Silberner has won awards for her work from the Society of Professional Journalists, the New York State Mental Health Association, the March of Dimes, Easter Seals, the American Heart Association, and others. Her work has also earned her a Unity Award and a Clarion Award.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Silberner holds her B.A. in biology. She has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
She currently resides in Washington, D.C.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Researchers have identified clusters of genes that appear to be linked to the tiredness and lack of energy associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The findings, announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could lead to a better understanding of the condition.
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Drugs to treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder prompt continued debate. An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration has recommended "black box" warnings for all, but a second panel, made up mostly of child psychiatrists and pediatricians, says the dangers do not merit such a warning.
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Medicare recipients can now sign up to get prescription drug insurance through Medicare. But a confusing array of programs and lack of easily found details are keeping some seniors from figuring out the new system, the biggest change in Medicare since it started 40 years ago.
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The Senate votes to approve Lester Crawford to be the next head of the Food and Drug Administration. Crawford has been acting commissioner since the spring of 2004. He becomes the official head of an agency that has been criticized for its inaction over controversial issues, including the delayed approval of emergency contraceptives.
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A new study shows that barely a third of Americans with mental illness get proper treatment. And most people with mental illness get their care from primary care physicians. Primary care doctors say they see people who don't want to believe they have a mental illness, and don't want to get treated for one.
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Merck Chairman and CEO Raymond Gilmartin will step down ahead of his planned retirement next year. He says the decision for an early departure from the pharmaceutical company is his own. Merck faces thousands of lawsuits from people who suffered heart attacks or strokes while taking the painkiller Vioxx.
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Two weeks after a tsunami devastated thousands of miles of coastline on the Indian Ocean, relief organizations say they are now getting supplies and medical care to almost every affected area. But there are still are still complaints that aid distribution has been uneven. Hear NPR's Joanne Silberner.
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Amid new and often confusing revelations about painkillers currently on the market, the Food and Drug Administration issues an interim advisory while it compares data on pain relievers. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.
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Congress is considering changes to the way the Food and Drug Administration handles drug safety. An FDA scientist testified that superiors pressed him to soften conclusions on the safety of profitable drugs... and that at least five drugs on the market have major problems. Hear NPR's Joanne Silberner.
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An advisory committee recommends the FDA issue stronger warnings about the use of antidepressants called SSRIs in children and teenagers. The panel concludes that available research suggests the drugs can double the incidence of suicidal thoughts and attempts. Hear NPR's Joanne Silberner.