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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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. -
Public health figures believe a focus on boosters for the already vaccinated will hasten the emergence of new variants among the billions of unvaccinated people — including a vaccine-resistant strain. -
Exhausted from taking the kids to countless kiddie activities? Overwhelmed by too many toys? Here's what Western parents can learn from other cultures about how kids (and parents too) can have fun. -
A leaked CDC document compared it to the highly contagious children's disease. Data does not support this claim. Nonetheless, the variant is one of the world's most contagious respiratory diseases.
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A study from China offers clues as to why the delta variant of the coronavirus is spreading so quickly around the world. The highly contagious strain accounts for more than 80% of U.S. COVID-19 cases.
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One of the scientists who signed a recent letter calling for more investigation of the lab-leak origin theory says new data has come to light. And that information has changed his thinking.
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New research from China suggests people infected with the delta variant have, on average, about 1,000 times more virus in their respiratory tracts than those infected with the original strain.
