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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The Food and Drug Administration says it can't keep up with all the dietary supplements that claim to enhance sexual performance. Many have been found to contain potentially harmful ingredients, so the agency is warning people to beware of the entire bunch. -
For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics says it favors civil marriage for same-gender couples. The leading group of pediatricians in the U.S. also supports parents' full rights to adopt or provide foster care regardless of their sexual orientation. -
Parents frequently fret about risks to their daughters from vaccination against cervical cancer, even though the vaccines are safe. Parents who don't plan to have their daughter get the shots often say they don't know enough about the vaccine or that their child doesn't need it anyway. -
Commercial fishermen have the highest rate of on-the-job fatalities of any occupation in the country. The winches that shrimpers use to pull in their nets pose particular hazards, an analysis of deaths and injuries finds. -
Canadian researchers wondered whether automated defibrillators that can save the lives of people suffering cardiac arrest are being put where they're needed most. A study found a mismatch between public locations where the devices are available and where cases of cardiac arrest are most likely. -
Many doctors and patients expect too much from prescription opioids as pain relievers, some physicians say. These expectations need to be reined in to curtail drug abuse and overdoses that claim more than 16,000 lives a year in the U.S., they say. -
People who stuck with diets rich in olive oil and nuts had about a 30 percent lower risk of experiencing a major cardiovascular problem than people who followed a low-fat diet. -
Pharmaceuticals were involved in more than half of the 38,329 overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2010. Opioid painkillers, such as hydrocodone, were the most common prescription drugs involved. But drugs for mental health conditions were also implicated often. -
The notion that being a little overweight could help people in old age is being challenged. Some of the studies in support of the so-called obesity paradox excluded people who lived in institutions, like nursing homes, or were too sick to participate, a critic says. -
When researchers asked hospitals how much a total hip replacement would cost a 62-year-old woman paying cash, a surprising number couldn't or wouldn't say. Health care could learn something from the car industry about working with consumers, critics say.
