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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Too many women who don't need regular Pap tests are still getting them. Other women who could benefit from the tests aren't getting them, often those are women without health insurance. -
Praxair has recalled its Grab 'n Go Vantage portable oxygen units. Turns out that if these cylinders get kicked or knocked over they can sometimes catch fire. The company is replacing o-rings between the built-in pressure valve and gas tank.
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The latest NPR-Truven Health Analytics Health Poll finds that most Americans favor physician-assisted suicide for people with less than six months to live. But the survey found opposition to assisted suicide for people in severe pain who aren't terminally ill or for those with disabilities. -
Three models of the infant recliners are being recalled voluntarily by some of the nation's biggest retailers, including Amazon.com and Buy Buy Baby. The Consumer Product Safety Commission claims the products are hazardous. The maker has said the infant seats are safe when used as directed. -
There is a strong consensus in favor of colon cancer screening. Educational efforts have fallen short when it comes to meeting public health goals. Why don't more people get tested? -
Doctors say parents should limit children's exposure to media coverage of disasters, like the mass shooting in Connecticut. Kids, especially older ones, will have questions, and it's fine for parents to answer them. But keep the answers simple and make sure they come with ample reassurance. -
Nearly a third of pedestrians crossing some of Seattle's most dangerous intersections were doing something distracting at the same time. People texting were four times more likely to cross the street without looking both ways. -
Somebody poured a solution of industrial strength bleach into a 55-gallon drum, triggering a release of toxic chlorine gas a Tyson Foods plant. Language barriers contributed to the accident, government investigators concluded. -
Radiologists have an image problem with patients. Many of them don't know who the doctors are or what they do. A survey finds that only about half of patients receiving CT scans even knew radiologists are doctors. -
There were more than 9,000 whooping cough cases in California in 2010, a 60-year high. There has been a resurgence of the disease across the country lately. Why? People going without vaccination is one factor. Another may lie in the vaccines themselves.
