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 – the complex web of biological, socio-economic, and cultural factors that influence how mental health problems manifest themselves in different groups – 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 The Salt, where she edited stories about food, culture, nutrition, and agriculture. In that role, she also produced a short online food video series called "Hot Pot: A Dish, A Memory," 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 Goats & Soda 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—a Master of Science in biotechnology from Visva-Bharati in India, and a Master of Arts in journalism from the University of Missouri.
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Researchers found that the increase was highest for girls ages 10 to 14 in the U.S., rising by nearly 13% since 2007. The increase for boys of the same age was 7%. -
A study finds that about 7 percent of all teen homicides between 2003 and 2016 were committed by a romantic partner. The majority of victims were teen girls. -
Postpartum depression hits low-income women especially hard. Will a promising new drug, Zulresso, become affordable and accessible enough to help them? -
As more places in the U.S. and Europe legalize marijuana, weed consumption is growing ever more popular. But researchers are studying a troubling health risk associated with the drug. -
After years of being beaten up, this teen decided to take justice into his own hands. A school district in Oregon showed him a better way to solve his problems. -
Psychologists and the FBI say they are getting a better understanding of the mix of factors that lead some kids to open fire on a classroom. The shooting can be an act of desperation fueled by anger.
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About 40 percent of the Food and Drug Administration employees will go on unpaid leave starting Wednesday. The remaining staffers will respond to emergencies and continue work funded by user fees. -
A large study of Danish kids finds that childhood infections are linked with a higher risk of developing some mental illnesses. The risk is highest in the months immediately following the infection. -
As illegal meth use has made a comeback across the U.S., pregnant women have not been spared, doctors say. New research shows rural areas in the South, Midwest and West have been hit hardest. -
Most children moving to the U.S. from Central America come without adults, hoping to join parents or family already living in the U.S. To succeed, psychologists say, these families need support.
