Michaeleen Doucleff Michaeleen Doucleff is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk.
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Michaeleen Doucleff

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Michaeleen Doucleff 2016
Sanjit Das/NPR

Michaeleen Doucleff

Correspondent, Science Desk

Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. For nearly a decade, she has been reporting for the radio and the web for NPR's global health outlet, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children's health.

In 2014, Doucleff was part of the team that earned a George Foster Peabody award for its coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. For the series, Doucleff reported on how the epidemic ravaged maternal health and how the virus spreads through the air. In 2019, Doucleff and Senior Producer Jane Greenhalgh produced a story about how Inuit parents teach children to control their anger. That story was the most popular one on NPR.org for the year; altogether readers have spent more than 16 years worth of time reading it.

In 2021, Doucleff published a book, called Hunt, Gather, Parent, stemming from her reporting at NPR. That book became a New York Times bestseller.

Before coming to NPR in 2012, Doucleff was an editor at the journal Cell, where she wrote about the science behind pop culture. Doucleff has a bachelor degree in biology from Caltech, a doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Berkeley, California, and a master's degree in viticulture and enology from the University of California, Davis.

Story Archive

Omicron causes record-breaking COVID cases in the U.S. and globally

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Scientists estimate record U.S. COVID cases attributed to the omicron variant

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Encore: Encouraging collaboration early on can lead to more helpful children

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Health authorities have been urging Americans to get a booster shot six months after their second dose of the vaccine, especially now that the omicron variant is dominant in the U.S. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Boosters have been shown to restore some of the protection lost with omicron's rise

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A colorized scanning-electron-microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (the round blue objects) emerging from cells cultured in the lab. SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. NIAID-RML/Science Source hide caption

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NIAID-RML/Science Source

A woman is vaccinated against COVID-19 at a clinic in Johannesburg on Dec. 6. A new study from South Africa looks at the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine in preventing infection and severe disease. Shiraaz Mohamed/AP hide caption

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Shiraaz Mohamed/AP

Vaccine protection vs. omicron infection may drop to 30% but does cut severe disease

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How well does a COVID vaccine hold up against the omicron variant?

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A man is vaccinated against COVID-19 at a clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. The omicron variant appears to be driving a surge in South Africa. New studies suggest that vaccines might not be as effective against this variant but that a booster shot can be helpful. Shiraaz Mohamed/AP hide caption

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Shiraaz Mohamed/AP

Studies suggest sharp drop in vaccine protection vs. omicron — yet cause for optimism

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Do vaccines stop infections from the omicron variant? Early results are released

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Katherine Streeter for NPR

Don't let omicron crash your holiday gathering. Here's how to keep your family safe

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What we know about the omicron variant

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A man receives a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Soweto, South Africa. The omicron variant of the coronavirus, first identified in South Africa, has now spread to at least a dozen other countries. On Friday, scientists presented evidence that the variant spreads twice as fast as the delta variant. Denis Farrell/AP hide caption

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Denis Farrell/AP

New evidence shows omicron likely spreads twice as fast as delta in South Africa

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