Jon Hamilton
Jon Hamilton is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. Currently he focuses on neuroscience and health risks.
In 2014, Hamilton went to Liberia as part of the NPR team that covered Ebola. The team received a Peabody Award for its coverage.
Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Hamilton was part of NPR's team of science reporters and editors who went to Japan to cover the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Hamilton contributed several pieces to the Science Desk series "The Human Edge," which looked at what makes people the most versatile and powerful species on Earth. His reporting explained how humans use stories, how the highly evolved human brain is made from primitive parts, and what autism reveals about humans' social brains.
In 2009, Hamilton received the Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award for his piece on the neuroscience behind treating autism.
Before joining NPR in 1998, Hamilton was a media fellow with the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation studying health policy issues. He reported on states that have improved their Medicaid programs for the poor by enrolling beneficiaries in private HMOs.
From 1995-1997, Hamilton wrote on health and medical topics as a freelance writer, after having been a medical reporter for both The Commercial Appeal and Physician's Weekly.
Hamilton graduated with honors from Oberlin College in Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts in English. As a student, he was the editor of the Oberlin Review student newspaper. He earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where he graduated with honors. During his time at Columbia, Hamilton was awarded the Baker Prize for magazine writing and earned a Sherwood traveling fellowship.
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The FDA is poised to decide whether to approve aducanumab, a drug to treat Alzheimer's. It's proved highly effective at removing the sticky amyloid plaques associated with the disease from the brain.
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A man who is paralyzed can quickly perform tasks like pouring a glass of water, thanks to a mind-controlled robotic arm that conveys a sense of touch.
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By decoding the brain signals involved in handwriting, researchers have allowed a man who is paralyzed to transform his thoughts into words on a computer screen.
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The nation's top addiction scientist has teamed up with a prominent artist to let people know that substance use disorder is a disease, not a moral failure.
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An experimental medicine seems to ease symptoms of Fragile X syndrome, a genetic disorder that is the most common inherited cause of intellectual disabilities and autism.
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At an animal sanctuary in the Congo, young students are learning why the gentle, endangered apes known as bonobos should be seen as a national treasure.
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Surveys show that support for COVID-19 vaccines is rising among Black and Latinx populations, now that tens of millions of Americans have safely received the shots.
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Friday marked the busiest day for the nation's airports since COVID-19 put the brakes on air travel almost a year ago. But the number of travelers remains far below 2019 levels.
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The two countries joined a number of other European nations that have temporarily suspended the shot after several people reportedly developed blood clots after receiving it.
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Nonwhite Americans looking for care for a loved one are much more likely than whites to encounter discrimination, language barriers, and providers who lack cultural competence, a new report finds.