Selena Simmons-Duffin
Selena Simmons-Duffin reports on health policy for NPR, with a focus on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., health insurance, reproductive health, and transgender health.
She won NLGJA's Excellence in Transgender Coverage Award in 2026 for a scoop about the Trump administration's plans to prohibit Medicaid from paying for gender-affirming care for youth.
Since joining the Science Desk in 2019 as a reporter, she's covered CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic, the fallout from the end of Roe v. Wade, and many stories about health insurance, including a story about a man who married his roommate for health benefits.
Before becoming a reporter, Simmons-Duffin worked for 10 years as a producer and editor for NPR's flagship programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. In 2014, she drove the full length of the U.S.-Mexico border with host Steve Inskeep for the "Borderland" series.
Simmons-Duffin is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied English and started out in radio at KZSU. She studied documentary radio at the Salt Institute before coming to NPR as an intern in 2009.
She can be reached via encrypted message at selena.02 on Signal.
- $86m in teen pregnancy prevention funds diverted to Trump-linked contractor
- She got Trump's $500 check for health insurance. To her, it's a 'political stunt'
- As of Oct. 1, refugees lose access to Medicaid across the country
- 'It's a nightmare.' Former refugee, professor on Trump's new Medicaid policy
- Congress passed $100 million for teen pregnancy prevention. Most of it is untouched
- HHS cancels health insurance of 760,000 individuals enrolled in healthcare.gov plans
- Senators question Trump's picks for top health positions, including surgeon general
- New maps reveal massive gaps in access to affordable birth control across the U.S