JoNel Aleccia is a Senior Correspondent focused on aging and end-of-life issues on the KHN enterprise team. Before joining KHN in November 2016, she was a health reporter for more than a decade, covering regional and national news at outlets including The Seattle Times, NBCNews.com, TODAY.com and MSNBC.com. Before that, she was a reporter, editor and columnist at newspapers in the Northwest. JoNel was a member of reporting teams that won National Press Club Awards for digital journalism focused on the Great Recession and on amputees in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
JoNel Aleccia
From this contributor
Despite measles outbreaks, vaccine exemptions easy to obtain in U.S. states
As measles outbreaks continue across the United States, newly revealed health records from Oregon suggest it’s surprisingly easy to opt out of required vaccinations in that state — as in several others.

Despite measles outbreaks, vaccine exemptions easy to obtain in U.S. states
U.S. measles outbreak sends hesitant families scrambling for vaccines
Demand for measles vaccine has surged in the Washington county where the highly contagious virus is linked to more than 50 confirmed illnesses this year — including among people who had previously shunned the shots.

U.S. measles outbreak sends hesitant families scrambling for vaccines
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Oxytocin prompts prairie voles to oust outsiders, fortifying their friendships
The “love hormone” drives the neurobiology behind platonic bonds in animals usually studied for their romantic attachments.

Oxytocin prompts prairie voles to oust outsiders, fortifying their friendships
The “love hormone” drives the neurobiology behind platonic bonds in animals usually studied for their romantic attachments.
Contested paper on vaccines, autism in rats retracted by journal
The editor-in-chief cited “inconsistencies in the number of subjects” as the reason for the retraction.

Contested paper on vaccines, autism in rats retracted by journal
The editor-in-chief cited “inconsistencies in the number of subjects” as the reason for the retraction.
Body state, sensory signals commingle in mouse whisker cortex
The new study challenges a long-held view that the barrel cortex exclusively encodes sensory signals from the whiskers.
Body state, sensory signals commingle in mouse whisker cortex
The new study challenges a long-held view that the barrel cortex exclusively encodes sensory signals from the whiskers.