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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According to the National Rural Health Association, the rate of suicide among farmers is three-and-a-half times that of the general population. One group in northeast Missouri is trying to destigmatize farmer mental health. -
Dr. Erinne Kennedy is a dentist and the assistant dean of curriculum and integrated learning at Kansas City University College of Dental Medicine in Joplin. She spoke about the bidirectional relationship between oral health and diabetes, and about some simple changes individuals can make to help manage their condition. -
A “yes” vote would have authorized the state to start an investment fund that would eventually replace state taxes. -
Judge Robert Rice grew up in Nodaway County, and said that after many years working as a lawyer, prosecutor and now, a judge — he’s seen the need for more mental health resources in Northwest Missouri. -
In 2012, Daisy Coleman was a freshman at Maryville High School when she was sexually assaulted. After the fallout from this assault and the blowback from the community, she became a prominent advocate from other youth survivors of sexual violence. Daisy died by suicide in 2020, but her brother Charlie and Shael Norris, SafeBAE’s executive director, have continued this work. They spoke about the importance of giving kids a safe place to ask questions. -
Intermittent fasting is when people go without food for a prolonged period — usually anywhere from 16 to 72 hours, and sometimes even longer. Fasting isn’t new. People have practiced it for centuries for religious and cultural purposes. But now, it has gained popularity as a health trend too. -
Methamphetamine use in Missouri looks different than it did in the 90s and early 2000s, but nevertheless — it remains a problem. There's limited treatment options that exist for Missourians with stimulant use disorder, and some barriers prevent even those options from being more widespread. -
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was not unusual to hear people call Missouri the "meth capital of America" due to the large number of methamphetamine labs in the state. But what does methamphetamine usage and production look like in the state today? -
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.
