Rhitu Chatterjee
Rhitu Chatterjee is a health correspondent with NPR, with a focus on mental health. Chatterjee has a particular interest in mental health problems faced by the most vulnerable in society, especially pregnant women and children, as well as racial and ethnic minorities. She reported on how the pandemic exacerbated an already worsening mental health crisis in the United States, with stories about the mental health of children, family caregivers and healthcare workers. She has covered the intergenerational impacts of COVID-19 deaths by looking specifically at the long term consequences on children of parental death during the pandemic. She has also investigated how health insurers limit access to mental health care despite laws on the books that require them to cover mental health the same way they cover physical health.
Throughout her career, Chatterjee has reported on everything from basic scientific discoveries to issues at the intersection of science, society, and culture. She specializes in trauma-informed reporting and is regularly invited to moderate panels and speak about her work on panels and at conferences. Chatterjee has mentored student fellows by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and taught science writing at the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop.
Before starting at NPR's health desk in 2018, Chatterjee was an editor for NPR's The Salt, where she edited stories about food, culture, nutrition, and agriculture. Prior to that, Chatterjee reported on current affairs from New Delhi for The World by PRX, and covered science and health news for Science Magazine. Before that, she was based in Boston as a science correspondent with The World.
She did her undergraduate work in Darjeeling, India, and has a Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Missouri.
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Dozens of leaders in medicine, criminal justice and more issued an urgent call for collective action to tackle the gun violence crisis in the U.S. -
Young teens who use cannabis are more likely to be frequent users than people who start later, according to a study in JAMA Network Open. They are also more likely to seek care for health problems. -
Data from a large, ongoing study of adolescents shows a link between increasing social media use and lower cognition and memory in teens. -
Sources tell NPR that more than 100 employees have been laid off at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had some cuts reversed late Saturday. -
Two groups are calling for new leadership at HHS after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s actions on substance abuse treatment and mental health medications, among other issues. -
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are against schools giving kids standardized questionnaires about their mental well-being. But experts say they are wrong. -
The mental health effects of Hurricane Katrina have been studied for more than a decade, and that research found that post-traumatic growth can co-exist with post-traumatic stress. -
The U.S. State Department says it's halting visas for visitors from Gaza as it reviews its process for granting visas for medical evacuees. -
A new study finds that nearly 1 in 10 kids on Medicaid visiting an emergency department for mental health care remain stuck there for days waiting for follow up psychiatric care. -
The 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health report found that in recent years, depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in teens have declined.
