Rebecca Smith
Health ReporterRebecca Smith is an award-winning reporter and producer for the KBIA Health & Wealth Desk. Born and raised outside of Rolla, Missouri, she has a passion for diving into often overlooked issues that affect the rural populations of her state – especially stories that broaden people’s perception of “rural” life. She created a conversations-based journalism project, Missouri Health Talks, in 2016 that empowers people throughout the state to share their stories of access to healthcare – in their own words.
She has degrees in both Journalism and Chemistry from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, and often says health reporting is the perfect marriage of individual’s stories and reporting on science.
You can reach her at smithbecky@missouri.edu or 573-882-4824.
-
Dr. Zane He is a psychiatrist with University of Missouri Health Care. He works at the MU Student Health Center as a sort of “school psychiatrist." He spoke about how he's seen the stigma around mental health change during his career, and about how simply talking about issues can help reduce the stigma around mental health. -
University of Missouri Health Care will soon increase access to quick sports medicine injury care in Jefferson City. -
Partners Sam Collins and Cricket Osborn met in Chicago and have been together for about three years. They spoke about the somewhat chaotic start to their relationship and their decision to choose love over fear. -
According to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, stroke is the sixth leading cause of death in Missouri. Dr. Adnan Qureshi with University of Missouri Health Care is an expert on strokes and spoke about how treatment options for strokes have expanded during his time in the field. -
Sarah Mosteller is a lesbian in her early 20s, and spoke about her desire for more safe, queer – and especially sapphic spaces – in mid-Missouri. -
The first confirmed case of measles within the state of Missouri in 2025 was announced today. The case was diagnosed in a child visiting Taney County in southern Missouri who had recently traveled abroad. -
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have already been more than 700 measles cases in the United States so far this year. That's more than double the number of cases reported in all of 2024. -
Husbands Jeff Terry and Travis Griffin met growing up in Joplin, but didn’t reconnect – or fall in love – until after the 2011 Joplin tornado. They spoke about some of the differences in their upbringings and about learning how to love each other during the early years of their marriage. -
Reporters Anna Spidel, Harshawn Ratanpal and Rebecca Smith take listeners inside Columbia's only year-round homeless shelter, Room at the Inn, for one night. -
The Presser Art Center in Mexico has been hosting a new class, Art for All Abilities, which gives creators with developmental and intellectual disabilities the opportunity to come together and make art.
