Michaeleen Doucleff
Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. For nearly a decade, she has been reporting for the radio and the web for NPR's global health outlet, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children's health.
In 2014, Doucleff was part of the team that earned a George Foster Peabody award for its coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. For the series, Doucleff reported on how the epidemic ravaged maternal health and how the virus spreads through the air. In 2019, Doucleff and Senior Producer Jane Greenhalgh produced a story about how Inuit parents teach children to control their anger. That story was the most popular one on NPR.org for the year; altogether readers have spent more than 16 years worth of time reading it.
In 2021, Doucleff published a book, called Hunt, Gather, Parent, stemming from her reporting at NPR. That book became a New York Times bestseller.
Before coming to NPR in 2012, Doucleff was an editor at the journal Cell, where she wrote about the science behind pop culture. Doucleff has a bachelor degree in biology from Caltech, a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Berkeley, California, and a master's degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.
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The World Health Organization deemed it a variant of concern, and the U.S. is banning travel from parts of Africa where it's spreading. Here's what scientists know and what they're trying to learn. -
One of the surprising aspects of the pandemic is that symptoms can linger months after infection. This syndrome has been called "long COVID," and it's had a profound impact on many people's lives. -
Scientists have evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is circulating in white-tailed deer in the U.S. They say the findings could essentially dash any hopes of eliminating the virus in the U.S. — and the world. -
It could turn out to be the eighth coronavirus known to spread to humans. Some scientists think doctors and researchers should start actively looking for this virus in patients. -
Pandemic predictions have been made — and then things would change. But based on models and studies (including a 1980s test that squirted virus up human noses), researchers have a new endgame thesis. -
A new coronavirus variant — known as delta plus — has cropped up in the U.K. There's concern it could be more dangerous than the highly contagious delta variant. What does the science actually show? -
Boosters are available for higher-risk people who got the Pfizer vaccine. But what about people who got the one-shot Johnson & Johnson? Some doctors say they need an extra shot even more urgently. -
With the back and forth on boosters from government agencies, many Americans are wondering if they really need an extra shot. Here is what the science says about who needs a booster now — and why. -
That's how some scientists describe the findings of a series of studies looking at the antibodies created by individuals who were infected by the coronavirus and then had an mRNA vaccine. -
New studies look at how the mRNA vaccines affect the cells in your body in the short run and the long run. The findings are a counterpoint to concerns about waning immunity.
