Pediatricians’ obesity guidelines rest on shaky evidence about eating disorder risks
To address soaring rates of childhood obesity, the American Academy of Pediatrics last year endorsed…
Category: Special Report
STAT+: Diagnosed with cancer, a pharmaceutical executive became a patient advocate and changed drug development. It took decades
Kathy Giusti was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996, when she was a 37-year-old executive…
There’s a knowledge gap about miscarriages in the U.S., and researchers hope to close it
Megan Hanson was eight weeks pregnant in 2019 when she experienced a miscarriage — her…
4 takeaways from STAT’s story on the development of malaria vaccines
For the first time, the world is starting to roll out malaria vaccines to children…
Behind the malaria vaccines: A 40-year quest against one of humanity’s biggest killers
Malaria is one of our most ancient foes — and one of the wiliest. Caused…
5 takeaways from the Human Genome Project investigation
The Human Genome Project was among the most ambitious scientific efforts in modern history, with…
The untold story of the Human Genome Project: How one man’s DNA became a pillar of genetics
STAT is co-publishing this investigation by Undark. They numbered 20 in all — 10 men…
Three months into bird flu outbreak in U.S. dairy cows, experts see deep-rooted problems in response
Three months since an outbreak of avian influenza in U.S. dairy cattle was declared, the…
Watch: How pharmacy benefit managers influence drug pricing
This is Part 2 of “Behind the Counter,” an in-depth video series demystifying the complex…
Watch: The role of PBMs, patents, and public health in drug pricing
This is Part 1 of “Behind the Counter,” an in-depth video series demystifying the complex…
STAT+: How a device maker inundated pain patients with unwanted batteries and surprise bills
Michelle Bean is drowning in batteries she doesn’t need. For two years, the batteries and…
New obesity drugs are seemingly everywhere. Black Americans feel left out
STAT teamed up with Word In Black, a network of 10 Black news publishers, to…
Black voices, Black bodies: Life in the age of Ozempic
STAT teamed up with Word In Black, a network of 10 Black news publishers, to…
STAT+: HHS’s Xavier Becerra, once an ‘invisible’ secretary, is racing to cement a clearer legacy
WASHINGTON — He’s been called the “invisible” secretary. So far removed from the White House…
Gene therapy offered this 7-year-old freedom. The price: a grueling year
PHILADELPHIA — The meds Shelby Campbell needed for her rare blood disorder stopped working just…
New gene therapies confront many sickle cell patients with an impossible choice: a cure or fertility
As a teenager, Marie Tornyenu was always having to explain herself. If it wasn’t the…
STAT+: Critics say HCA’s cost-cutting is endangering Appalachian patients — a warning for the whole U.S. health care system
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — There was the beeping of monitors, the stiff sheets, the sterile smell…
STAT+: Colon cancer prevention paradox: Higher-risk patients pay more for colonoscopy
Ashley Conway-Anderson was prepared for a lot of things when it came to her first…
STAT+: Life scientists’ flight to biotech labs stalls important academic research
Step inside Natasha Sheybani’s office at the University of Virginia, where she runs a bioengineering…
STAT+: For Parkinson’s disease, advances spurred by Apple Watch offer a glimmer of hope
Since the Apple Watch was unveiled in 2014, it has been trumpeted not only as…
How a conservative, gun-toting doctor defended abortion access in Appalachia
BRISTOL, Va. — When Wes Adams’ youngest son was little, he’d sometimes toddle over to…
No longer brushed off: A Minnesota clinic tries to rewrite medicine’s approach to miscarriage
WOODBURY, Minn. — By the time Taylor Teske came to be sitting on an exam table…
STAT+: Health care CEOs hauled in $4 billion last year as inflation pinched workers, analysis shows
The health care industry didn’t just provide a safe haven for jittery stock investors in…
Asian American doctors, overrepresented in medicine, are largely left out of leadership
For 15 years, orthopedic surgeon Charles S. Day has been working to highlight the striking…
STAT+: Lured by a bigger payday, a medical device maker sold fake plastic parts. Many were implanted in chronic pain patients
Stimwave’s pitch was alluring. As a startup tackling chronic pain with nerve-stimulating devices, it promised…
A research team airs the messy truth about AI in medicine — and gives hospitals a guide to fix it
In public, hospitals rave about artificial intelligence. They trumpet the technology in press releases, plaster…
In a town plagued by an environmental crisis, a local abortion debate consumes public attention
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Zoe Poplin cupped her hands around her 17-month-old’s head, as if her…
STAT+: A bellwether moment: Once a distant dream, gene therapy for Duchenne nears historic decision
Brent and Sabina Furbee could see something was wrong with their son, Emerson, even if…
STAT+: Research misconduct allegations put Stanford’s president — and science — under an uncomfortable spotlight
STANFORD, Calif. — It’s the one thing everyone knows. And it’s the last thing people…
STAT+: As AI promises to revolutionize medical note-taking, concerns mount about accuracy and harm
In the doctor’s offices of the future, artificial intelligence will be a fly on the…
How the drug industry uses fear of fentanyl to extract more profit from naloxone
As the U.S. drug crisis has accelerated, the pharmaceutical industry has jumped into action —…
The drug was meant to save children’s lives. Instead, they’re dying
Emily was combing her baby daughter’s hair when she first felt the lumps. It was…
We finally have new drugs for sickle cell disease. Why are so few patients taking them?
At first, Lena Harvey didn’t realize anything had changed. She just started doing strange, unexpected…
STAT+: PhRMA, once invincible in Washington, has lost its edge
WASHINGTON — PhRMA has a reputation in Washington for might, for money, for scorched-earth tactics,…
‘The tipping point is coming’: Unprecedented exodus of young life scientists is shaking up academia
SAN DIEGO — Rayyan Gorashi is keeping her options open. After all, she’s still a…
STAT+: Microsoft’s note-taking tool asks doctors to make a grand bargain: Share patient data, and get your life back
The artificial intelligence system is a dream for many doctors: It records their conversations with…
Here’s why we’re not prepared for the next wave of biotech innovation
The first time I remember hearing the words “biology’s century,” it was a sales pitch….
STAT+: Private equity’s Welsh Carson, casting itself as a noble force, relentlessly pursues profits in health care
Before the allegations of neglect, before the lawsuits, before the government investigations, the health care…
‘If I were a hospital, I’d be reading the tea leaves’: Pressures grow on the health care industry to reduce its climate pollution
Flooding, heat waves, wildfires, and other climate-driven weather extremes in recent years have catapulted hospitals…
STAT+: Epic’s overhaul of a flawed algorithm shows why AI oversight is a life-or-death issue
Epic, the nation’s dominant seller of electronic health records, was bracing for a catastrophe. It…
A minuscule new HHS office has a mammoth goal: tackling environmental justice
WASHINGTON — Ask 10 people how a federal health care agency might tackle “environmental justice,”…
STAT+: Minimal compliance, or meaningful change? Epic faces a crossroads as new rules put pressure on health data sharing
In the business of selling record-keeping software to hospitals, Epic Systems is breaking away from…
STAT+: Tobacco giant Philip Morris is investing billions in health care. Critics say it’s peddling cures for its own poison
A new health care company was quietly incorporated last month, with plans to leverage cutting-edge…
‘So much more to do’: A hospital system’s campaign to confront racism — and resistance to change — makes early strides
BOSTON — When a routine cancer screening came back showing an elevated PSA reading, George…
The trust-builder: a cancer center director’s try-it-all strategy for breaking the barriers between research and Black patients
TRIALS AND TRUST: This is the second part of a series on health equity and…
Two deadly days in St. Louis: An overdose cluster kills 8 Black people — and shows the new shape of the addiction crisis
ST. LOUIS — The calls for help poured in throughout the day: Overdose after overdose…
Health care’s high rollers: As the pandemic raged, CEOs’ earnings surged
Health care’s top executives sat comfortably atop their perch during the second year of the…
In the label ‘adult failure to thrive,’ medicine reveals its own failures
The death certificate made everything worse. Seth Fischer was already angry: a physical feeling, an…
This clinical trial wanted to end breast cancer disparities. But first it needed to enroll Black women
TRIALS AND TRUST: This is the first part of a series on health equity and…
To protect people with addiction from discrimination, the Justice Dept. turns to a long-overlooked tool: the ADA
It was at Massachusetts General Hospital that Bryan found the care he needed for his…