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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It took 15 years and 250 million vaccines, but this week, health authorities officially declared North America and South America free of rubella — a virus that can cause severe birth defects. -
For the first time, scientists have looked at the microbiome of an isolated Amazon tribe. The study finds that the Western lifestyle has wiped dozens of species out of American guts. -
It's only the fourth case of the deadly disease in the U.S. And it has doctors on an international hunt. How did a disease linked to contaminated beef in the U.K. more than a decade ago get to Texas? -
Babies have a microbe in their gut that prevents infections and helps the immune system. But not all infants get the bacteria at the same time, or in the same amount. Scientists have figured out why. -
We're not talking about just a smidge. Roughly 10 percent of samples tested contained at least 10 percent cow's milk. Doctors say the diluted milk could be dangerous for babies for several reasons. -
Travelers are bringing a nasty bacterial disease to the U.S. and spreading it to others. The bacteria cause bad diarrhea and are tough to treat because they're resistant to the top antibiotic. -
It's related to herpes. And it infects most of the world — about half of Americans, nearly all the developing world. But don't go out and get infected. The virus has a dark side, too. -
Many people have worried that Ebola could evolve into a more deadly virus — or start spreading through the air. A study published Thursday alleviates these concerns. -
A new coating makes ketchup slide out of the bottle and toothpaste slip out of a tube, right down to the last drop. So why not put the slick surface on an Ebola suit so the virus doesn't stick?
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For the first time, scientists have estimated the amount of antibiotics pigs, chickens and cows consume globally — and how fast consumption is growing. Which country uses the most drugs on farms? -
A child stricken with the deadliest form of the disease can quickly fall unconscious and die. A doctor in Michigan has dedicated her life to figuring out how this happens. At last, she has the answer. -
A video from NASA shows how air pollution moves around the world. So what happens when emissions from Asia blow across the Pacific Ocean to North America?
