Barbara Feder Ostrov


Kaiser Health News

Barbara Feder Ostrov, Senior Correspondent for California Healthline, has reported on medicine and health policy for more than 15 years. She covered the medical beat for the San Jose Mercury News for eight years and edited the website of the Center for Health Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. She previously worked at The Palm Beach Post and the Miami Herald. Her work also has been published in The Boston Globe, Ms. Magazine, Atlantic.com, PBS NewsHour, NPR, CNN.com and EverydayHealth.com. She has won awards from the Society for Women’s Health Research, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Florida Press Club. She is based in San Jose, California.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Connexiohuman Connexin 26 dodecamer at 90mmHg PCO2, pH7.4

Designer synapses edit brain circuits in living animals

The approach could help elucidate relationships between circuit structure and function, as well as the role of natural electrical synapses.

By Simon Makin
23 June 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of cortical excitation–inhibition balance.

Role of GABA-A receptors in dup15q syndrome, and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 22 June.

By Jill Adams
23 June 2026 | 2 min read
Thermal image of Danionella fish.

Exclusive: Janelia sunsets rodent work, launches transparent fish project

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus is banking on whole-brain imaging in the Danionella fish to advance neuroscience, but some scientists forced to close their labs say that even with a three-year runway and transitional support, they feel betrayed by the pivot.

By Calli McMurray
22 June 2026 | 5 min read