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. 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. -
According to the latest data from Feeding America, nearly one million Missourians faced food insecurity in 2024. But a program in Missouri is working to fight food insecurity by bringing locally raised pork to Missourians' plates. -
Laveta Lockridge and Job Green work at the Lincoln University Extension office in Caruthersville. This year, they started a community garden as a way to educate folks on nutrition, as well as provide them with free, fresh produce in an area where that can be hard to get. -
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Dr. Ashley Popejoy is a spokesperson for the American Dental Association and a pediatric dentist in Southwest Missouri. She spoke about the many oral health complications that can come from cancer treatment and how a medical team can help. -
Earlier this year, the American Heart Association updated their guidelines for cholesterol testing to include screening for lipoprotein(a) at least once in an adult’s life.
