Rhitu Chatterjee
Rhitu Chatterjee is a health correspondent with NPR, with a focus on mental health. In addition to writing about the latest developments in psychology and psychiatry, she reports on the prevalence of different mental illnesses and new developments in treatments.
Chatterjee explores the underlying causes of mental health disorders 鈥� the complex web of biological, socio-economic, and cultural factors that influence how mental health problems manifest themselves in different groups 鈥� and how our society deals with the mentally ill. She has a particular interest in mental health problems faced by the most vulnerable, especially pregnant women and children, as well as racial minorities and undocumented immigrants.
Chatterjee has reported on how chronic stress from racism has a devastating impact on pregnancy outcomes in black women. She has reported on the factors that put adolescents and youth on a path to school shootings, and what some schools are doing keep them off that path. She has covered the rising rates of methamphetamine and opioid use by pregnant women, and how some cities are helping these women stay off the drugs, have healthy pregnancies, and raise their babies on their own. She has also written about the widespread levels of loneliness and lack of social connection in America and its consequences of people's physical health.
Before starting at NPR's health desk in 2018, Chatterjee was an editor for NPR's , where she edited stories about food, culture, nutrition, and agriculture. In that role, she also produced a short online food video series called "," which featured dishes from a particular country as made by a person who grew up with the dish. The series was produced in collaboration with NPR's blog.
Prior to that, Chatterjee reported on current affairs from New Delhi for PRI's The World, and covered science and health news for Science Magazine. Before that, she was based in Boston as a science correspondent with PRI's The World.
Throughout her career, Chatterjee has reported on everything from basic scientific discoveries to issues at the intersection of science, society, and culture. She has covered the legacy of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, the world's largest industrial disaster. She has reported on a mysterious epidemic of chronic kidney disease in Sri Lanka and India. While in New Delhi, she also covered women's issues. Her reporting went beyond the breaking news headlines about sexual violence to document the underlying social pressures faced by Indian girls and women.
She has won two reporting grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and was awarded a certificate of merit by the Gabriel Awards in 2014.
Chatterjee has mentored student fellows by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, as well as young journalists for the Society of Environmental Journalists' mentorship program. She has also taught science writing at the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop.
She did her undergraduate work in Darjeeling, India. She has two master's degrees鈥攁 Master of Science in biotechnology from Visva-Bharati in India, and a Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Missouri.
-
Bananas are the most popular fruit in America, and demand is growing worldwide, too. But growing bananas requires a lot of pesticides. And a new study shows that some of those chemicals are ending up in caimans living downstream from banana plantations in Costa Rica, where many of the bananas that Americans eat are grown. -
Layers of wax in the marine mammals' ears can be read like tree rings, scientists say, recording a whale's age and also information about pollutants in the water the whale swam through. -
This cousin of the raccoon is the first new carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. Native to the Andes Mountains of Colombia and Ecuador where it's still living, the olinguito was actually first identified in a Field Museum specimen storage room in Chicago. -
Scientists have known that dolphins recognize each other by the sound of each animal's signature whistle. But new research shows that dolphins remember and respond to these whistles for an incredibly long time 鈥� even after they've been separated from each other. -
Over drinks in the light of a full moon, a group of Swiss sleep researchers recently realized they could put a bit of folklore about the moon's disruptive effect on sleep to the test. The answer surprised them and didn't quite win over some other scientists in the field. -
Dolphins, like humans, are part of complex social networks. And research now indicates that they use their unique whistle sounds to identify and communicate with each other. "Every time a dolphin heard its signature whistle, it called back, sometimes multiple times," one researcher says. -
The number of babies born with the life-threatening disease will climb by a third in the next 40 years, scientists say. The vast majority of sickle cell cases will occur in developing countries, which don't have the resources to treat deadly complications arising from the genetic disorder. -
A few dog breeds indigenous to North America have genetic roots on the continent that stretch back 1,000 years or more. A study finds that their genetic lineages haven't changed much, despite an influx of European pooches. -
Archaeologists had considered Iran unimportant in the history of farming 鈥� until now. Ancient seeds and farming tools uncovered in Iran reveal Stone Age people there were growing lentils, barley and other crops. The findings offer a snapshot of a time when humans first started experimenting with farming. -
Being able to throw stones with power and precision must have been fun for humans' early ancestors. It was essential, too, since we lack the the fangs and claws of other predators. A recent study suggests the ability to fire rocket fastballs depends on shoulder anatomy that chimps don't share.
