Michaeleen Doucleff
Michaeleen Doucleff is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She reports for the radio and the Web for NPR's global health and development blog, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, drug development, and trends in global 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 2015, Doucleff and Senior Producer Jane Greenhalgh reported on the extreme prejudices faced by young women in Nepal when they're menstruating. Their story was the second most popular one on the NPR website in 2015 and contributed to the NPR series on 15-year-old girls around the world, which won two Gracie Awards.
As a science journalist, Doucleff has reported on a broad range of topics, from vaccination fears and the microbiome to beer biophysics and dog psychology.
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 doctorate in chemistry from the University of Berkeley, California, and a master's degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.
-
NPR listeners had lots of questions after our story about diastasis recti, a medical condition of abdominal muscles that's common among new moms. Many wanted to know more about how to fix the problem. -
Each year more than 600,000 babies die of sepsis. Researchers have found a simple way to prevent it: Feed babies probiotic bacteria that are common in kimchi, pickles and other fermented vegetables. -
The technical term is diastasis recti, and it affects many new moms. The growing fetus pushes apart the abdominal muscles, and the separation often stays open. But science suggests this fix can work. -
We invited readers to tell us how their culture helps moms become breast-feeding pros. The stories we received are so wonderful, we couldn't wait to share them. We even heard from a few dads! -
First she was shot at on the way to work. Then her house was destroyed by a bomb. That didn't deter this female scientist. -
Many American women want to breast-feed — and try to. Only about half keep it up. It's like they've lost the instinct. One researcher thinks she's figured out why and how to get the instinct back.
-
The vast majority of pregnant women in the U.S. say they plan to breast-feed, but aren't told that many new moms worldwide find it tricky. Being mentored the first weeks after birth can help a lot. -
A majority of women say they want to breast-feed their babies. But only a small fraction reach that goal. Why is it so hard? Maybe the secrets of breast-feeding are in the past.
-
Rodents, primates and bats likely carry hundreds of thousands of viruses we haven't yet identified. But how do you know which ones might infect humans? -
Studies have shown that Zika can damage a fetus's brain in the third trimester. Would there also be an impact on the brain of a newborn?
