Rebecca Hersher
Rebecca Hersher (she/her) is a reporter on NPR's Science Desk, where she reports on outbreaks, natural disasters, and environmental and health research. Since coming to NPR in 2011, she has covered the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, embedded with the Afghan army after the American combat mission ended, and reported on floods and hurricanes in the U.S. She's also reported on research about puppies. Before her work on the Science Desk, she was a producer for NPR's Weekend All Things Considered in Los Angeles.
Hersher was part of the NPR team that won a Peabody award for coverage of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and produced a story from Liberia that won an Edward R. Murrow award for use of sound. She was a finalist for the 2017 Daniel Schorr prize; a 2017 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting fellow, reporting on sanitation in Haiti; and a 2015 NPR Above the Fray fellow, investigating the causes of the suicide epidemic in Greenland.
Prior to working at NPR, Hersher reported on biomedical research and pharmaceutical news for Nature Medicine.
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In the days after disastrous floods tore through Texas Hill Country last month, tens of thousands of calls to a federal aid hotline went unanswered, after FEMA failed to fund the call center. We discuss how the Trump administration’s government restructuring plans led to this problem and what it could mean for future disasters. This episode: political correspondent Sarah McCammon, politics correspondent Stephen Fowler, and climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher. This podcast was produced by Casey Morell & Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics. For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR's Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub. -
Funding for FEMA's disaster survivor hotline lapsed the day after the Texas floods, federal records show. It took DHS Secretary Kristi Noem five days to approve more money. -
The heat disproportionately kills poor, elderly and people of color. So on this episode we're focusing on the lives of those impacted, from roofers in Florida to prisoners who live and die in cells that feel more like ovens in Texas. We’re asking why so many people are dying from the heat and whose lives we value enough to count their deaths and try to prevent them. -
The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees. -
About a month after announcing that it would stop sharing data that hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on, the Navy now says it will continue distributing it. -
Many people in the United States receive little or no information about flood risk when they move into a new home or apartment. Here's how you can learn about your flood risk. -
In the wake of the deadly flash floods in Texas, state leaders are exploring whether to install more flood warning sirens. Such sirens can save lives if they're part of a larger warning system. -
The governor and top emergency official in Texas are both members of a council advising the Trump administration on options for eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency. -
New York, North Carolina, New Mexico and Texas have all suffered serious flooding this month. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms. -
The National Climate Assessment is the most influential source of information about climate change in the United States.
