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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Claims that Meta made its platforms addictive are now being tested in court. But what separates a bad scrolling habit from an addiction, and what can people do about it?
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A 29-year-old woman confided her suicidal thoughts to an AI chatbot — not to her therapist, not to her parents, not to her best friend. What can AI learn from her death? -
A 29-year-old woman confided her suicide plans to an AI chatbot -- not to her therapist, not to her parents, not to her best friend. What can AI learn from her death?
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Much of the country is reeling under a heat wave, which poses risks not just to people's physical health, but also mental health. We look at those risks and who is most likely to be affected.
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"Toy Story 5" brought in more than $160 million domestically over its first weekend. The movie, however, raises issues about how much screen time is too much for kids.
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Kids' screen use goes way up in the summertime. And just as the movie Toy Story 5 portrays, that can be problematic for children. Here are tips for parents to help their kids manage screens and have fun IRL this summer. -
A study finds that people in remote jobs are more socially isolated, anxious and sad compared to people not in remote jobs. But demanding everyone return to the office isn't the answer either, say researchers. -
Children closest to an incident of gun violence have the most risk of lasting psychological effects. Here's what all parents should know about how to buffer trauma. -
After shootings like the one at the San Diego mosque, people on site and in a community who are not physically hurt also suffer. Children are especially vulnerable.
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Zocalo Health, a primary care organization, screens all its patients for depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. It documented a marked increase in those conditions since ICE enforcement actions began.
