Karen Brown
Reporter/Producer/HostKaren is a radio and print journalist who focuses on health care, mental health, children’s issues, and other topics about the human condition. She has been a full-time radio reporter for NEPM since 1998. Her features and documentaries have won a number of national awards, including the National Edward R. Murrow Award, Public Radio News Directors, Inc. (PRNDI) Award, Third Coast Audio Festival Award, and the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize.
Karen’s work has appeared on NPR, in The New York Times, and other outlets. She previously worked as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. She earned a Masters of Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996.
She can be reached at karen_brown [at] nepm.org.
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![The UMass campus overlooking academic buildings and the W.E.B. Du Bois library [far left].](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b041c84/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+0/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa9%2F56%2F25581c7a4eb1bd73805ad27419e4%2Fimg-0521.jpg)
The Trump administration has proposed regulations to control billions of dollars in federal research funding, which it says will reduce "fraud and abuse." Scientists in Massachusetts and beyond say they could set back research in the U.S. by decades. -
A lawsuit by national medical groups has forced the Trump administration to revert to previous vaccination guidelines, but the strained relationship between pediatricians and the new CDC continues in western Massachusetts and beyond. -
Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, speaking at the summit for the Health Equity Compact on June 2, 2026, said the Trump Administration's cuts in health care are "mean and dumb." She said Massachusetts leaders will do their best to mitigate the harms. -
The Center for Human Development, which oversees a community outreach program called Innovative Care Partners, is attempting to put clients in touch with alternative services. -
UMass Amherst economists found there's an uptick in patent applications among states with legal recreational pot, but federal research restrictions still make clinical trials hard to do. -
The Berkshire County District Attorney has cleared Officer Jeffrey Spratt of any crime for the Jan. 7 killing of Biagio Kauvil, who was having a mental health crisis. -
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll traveled around WMass to experience a mix of rural amenities - from fly fishing on the Deerfield River to Pelham’s historic town hall, which local leaders say is the oldest working town hall in the country. -
Northampton is among the Massachusetts cities ready to give out grants from the state’s opioid settlement fund. The state is set to get $1 billion dollars from the national settlement with drug makers over the two decades. -
The Trump administration does not want children to have access to gender-affirming care — and is using federal policies and financial threats to make that happen. Massachusetts is among the states assuring families the care will be protected. But those promises are hard to keep when hospitals, including Baystate Health in western Massachusetts, stop providing the treatment on their own. -
In part 3 of NEPM's series on local candidates eager to enter politics, Nicole Coakley relies on her instincts as a mother, community leader, and woman of color.
![The UMass campus overlooking academic buildings and the W.E.B. Du Bois library [far left].](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/27e95cf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+0/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa9%2F56%2F25581c7a4eb1bd73805ad27419e4%2Fimg-0521.jpg)
