Pien Huang Pien Huang is a correspondent on the Science desk. She was NPR's first Reflect America Fellow, working with shows, desks and podcasts to bring more diverse voices to air and online.
Pien Huang
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Pien Huang

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Pien Huang
Wanyu Zhang/NPR

Pien Huang

Correspondent, Science Desk

Pien Huang is a reporter on the Science desk, covering public health and health disparities. She also guest hosts on NPR news programs, and narrates the Moments in History series on the NPR One app.

She joined NPR in 2019 as the newsroom's first Reflect America Fellow, working with shows, desks and podcasts to bring more diverse voices to air and online. Her reporting, with NPR's visuals team, on tracking COVID-19 data won a 2022 Edward R. Murrow award.

She's a former producer for WBUR/NPR's On Point and a 2018 Environmental Reporting Fellow with The GroundTruth Project at WCAI in Cape Cod, covering the human impact on climate change. As a freelance reporter, Huang's stories on the environment, arts and culture were featured on NPR, the BBC and PRI's The World.

Huang's experiences span categories and continents. She was executive producer of Data Made to Matter, a podcast from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and has taught podcasting and audio journalism at Northeastern University.

In a detour from journalism, she worked as a project manager for public artist Ralph Helmick to help plan and execute The Founder's Memorial in Abu Dhabi. Huang has traveled with scientists looking for signs of environmental change in Cameroon's frogs, in Panama's plants and in the ocean water off the ice edge of Antarctica. She has a degree in environmental science and public policy from Harvard.

Story Archive

Wednesday

U.S. life expectancy is recovering from COVID-19, but still lags

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Life expectancy in the U.S. is up in 2022, but it's still lower than before the pandemic. emholk/Getty Images hide caption

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U.S. life expectancy starts to recover after sharp pandemic decline

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Thursday

A skin disease caused by sand flies is on the rise in the U.S.

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Tuesday

Verbal abuse of healthcare workers has been up — as have their mental health problems

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Monday

Wastewater reveals which viruses are actually circulating and causing colds

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Saturday

Flu and COVID-19 vaccinations are now available across the U.S., including at this CVS pharmacy in Palatine, Illinois. Nam Y. Huh/AP hide caption

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Nam Y. Huh/AP

A seasonal viral stew is brewing with flu, RSV, COVID and more

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Friday

Wastewater reveals which viruses are actually circulating and causing colds

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Thursday

Vaccine hesitancy affects dog-owners, too, with many questioning the rabies shot

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Wednesday

Rabies shots are mandatory in most of the U.S. but some dog owners are hesitant about giving their pets the vaccine. fotografixx/Getty Images hide caption

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Vaccine hesitancy affects dog-owners, too, with many questioning the rabies shot

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Thursday

An aerial image taken on Aug. 10, 2023 shows destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii. Rumors and conspiracy theories quickly flourished after the fire, hampering relief efforts. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

How rumors and conspiracy theories got in the way of Maui's fire recovery

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Wednesday

Maui residents grapple with rumors about the fire and aid as they try to rebuild

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Tuesday

Why hikers on the Pacific Coast Trail are coming down with norovirus

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Sunday

Norovirus is breaking out in the wilderness — with busy hiking trails to blame

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EIS officer Arran Hamlet walks into the Government Meadows site to conduct environmental sampling for norovirus. Mia Catharine Mattioli/CDC hide caption

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Mia Catharine Mattioli/CDC

Friday

Advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended a new RSV vaccine to protect newborns by immunizing their moms late in pregnancy. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,/AP hide caption

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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,/AP

Thursday

The Princess Nahi'ena'ena Elementary School in Lahaina is closed pending the results of air, water and soil tests. Pien Huang/NPR hide caption

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Some parents in Lahaina fight to keep their school — and kids — together

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Tuesday

Some Lahaina parents push to reopen school local schools

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Friday

Danilo Andres, 60, outside his home in Lahaina. The fire jumped his home and a surrounding cluster. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Their house miraculously survived the wildfire, but no longer feels like home

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Saturday

Their house miraculously survived the wildfire, but it no longer feels like home

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Friday

A group of volunteers with Maui Medic Healers Hui gather before heading out to help people affected by the fires in Lahaina. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Weeks after the fire, the response in Maui shifts from a sprint to a marathon

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Tuesday

Hawaii officials will study longer term health consequences of Lahaina fire disaster

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Sunday

GOP state legislatures target progressive prosecutors

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Saturday

The growing movement against noise pollution

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