Aimee Cunningham

Aimee Cunningham

Biomedical Writer

Biomedical writer Aimee Cunningham is on her second tour at Science News. From 2005 to 2007, she covered chemistry, environmental science, biology and materials science for Science News.  Between stints Aimee was a freelance writer for outlets such as NPR and Scientific American Mind. She has a degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. She received the 2019 Award for Excellence in Science and Medical Journalism from the Endocrine Society for the article "Hormone replacement makes sense for some menopausal women."

All Stories by Aimee Cunningham

  1. Health & Medicine

    COVID-19’s death rate in the U.S. could spike as new cases soar

    Effective treatments are one possible reason the mortality rate from COVID-19 fell over the summer. Rising cases could reverse the trend.

  2. Health & Medicine

    The arthritis drug tocilizumab doesn’t appear to help fight COVID-19

    The best available evidence so far hasn’t found that the anti-inflammatory drug benefited patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

  3. Health & Medicine

    What does COVID-19 vaccine efficacy mean?

    The initial goal for a vaccine against COVID-19 is to reduce cases of the disease by at least 50 percent in those vaccinated versus those not.

  4. Environment

    What we know and don’t know about wildfire smoke’s health risks

    As wildfires become more frequent and severe in California, Oregon and throughout the West Coast, concerns rise about harmful air pollution.

  5. Health & Medicine

    College athletes show signs of possible heart injury after COVID-19

    Four of 26 college athletes, who had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19, may have had myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Here’s what pausing the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine trial really means

    A coronavirus vaccine trial was paused after a volunteer had a possible adverse reaction. Such routine measures help ensure new vaccines are safe.

  7. Health & Medicine

    What we can learn from how a doctor’s race can affect Black newborns’ survival

    When Black physicians attended Black newborns after a hospital birth, it reduced the mortality gap between Black and white babies.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Five big questions about when and how to open schools amid COVID-19

    Researchers weigh in on how to get children back into classrooms in a low-risk way.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Heavy drinking drove hundreds of thousands of Americans to early graves

    From 2011 to 2015, more than 93,000 U.S. deaths per year could be tied to excessive alcohol use, researchers say.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Masks help new moms with COVID-19 safely breastfeed their babies

    A study reports newborns could be held and breastfed safely when moms with COVID-19 wore masks and cleaned their hands.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Why COVID-19 is both startlingly unique and painfully familiar

    As doctors and patients learn more about the wide range of COVID-19 symptoms, the coronavirus is proving both novel and recognizable.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Preventing dangerous blood clots from COVID-19 is proving tricky

    Clinical trials of blood-clotting drugs have begun in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, as excessive clotting remains a complication of the disease.