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.
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Dr. Kimberly Spence is a member of the Show-Me Echo that focuses on mothers, infants, and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). This is a regular, virtual convening of medical professionals from across the state that works to share best practices of how to care for these at-risk infants and their mothers. -
On this month’s Socially Transmitted, KBIA's Najifa Farhat and Rebecca Smith look at what we do and do not know about the practice of mouth taping. -
Dr. Jeannie Kelly and Dr. Bridget Gelati both work at WashU Medicine's CARE [the Clinic for Acceptance, Recovery, and Empowerment], and spoke about how substance use disorder treatment during pregnancy can help parents — and babies thrive. -
In July, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced its intent to make 7-OH — a potent synthetic opioid — a schedule 1 drug. In other words, 7-OH would be classified as an illegal, addictive substance with no medical use. -
Dr. Jeremiah Weinstock is the chair of the Department of Psychology at St. Louis University. He’s spoke about some of the defining characteristics of substance use disorders, as well as reflected on the difficulties his patients face while in recovery. -
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Dr. Doug Burgess the medical director of Addiction Services at University Health in Kansas City and teaches psychiatry at UMKC. He spoke about how he got into the field of addiction psychiatry and about some of the misconceptions people — including himself at one point — have about those with substance use disorders. -
According to research from the Urban Resource Institute, more than a third of domestic violence survivors report their abusers threatened to harm or kill a family pet — leaving survivors in a fraught situation: escape their abuser or stay to protect the pet? -
Poplar Bluff Regional sits just above the Bootheel and for the last few years has been running a nurse externship program where student nurses get hands on experience working in the hospital. Ashlee Dunn oversees the program. She grew up in nearby Bollinger County and spoke about the benefits of training nurses from the community — in the community. -
On this month's Socially Transmitted, reporters Najifa Farhat and Rebecca Smith examine the safety of drinking raw milk.
