Nicole Leonard is a health and science reporter for WHYY News. She joined the newsroom in 2022 after covering health care for Connecticut Public Radio. Before that, she was the health reporter for the Press of Atlantic City.
Nicole’s coverage has focused on addiction and the opioid epidemic, mental health, and health policy. She is an alum of Boston University and grew up in New Jersey.
More from the Contributor
Philadelphia police seize guns and $1.4 million in street drugs during 3-day operation in Kensington
The joint operation between local police and federal agencies including the FBI and DEA was targeted to Kensington’s open-air drug market.
2 years ago
1 year after Dobbs, Pa. clinicians say it’s time to revise the state’s physician-only abortion law
Pennsylvania law only allows physicians to perform abortions. Advanced practice clinicians say they want to be able to do the same.
2 years ago
Listen 3:56
Philadelphia City Council paves way for $3 million funding bump for mobile crisis response services
Mobile crisis program supporters say additional funding will help to better staff professional teams and improve response times.
2 years ago
Haddonfield, N.J., is a borough in South Jersey with a small Black population, but one that dates back to the 1700s, historians say.
2 years ago
Philly takes first steps in distributing national opioid settlement funds with $1.9 million in grants for community and grassroots organizations.
2 years ago
Listen 0:55
A Philadelphia surgeon’s invention and historic open-heart operation is celebrated 70 years later
Dr. John Gibbon invented the heart-lung machine and used it to perform the world’s first successful open-heart surgery on May 6, 1953.
2 years ago
Medical illustration is a small field — there are about 2,000 certified professionals in the world, including a small team in Philly at CHOP.
2 years ago
Listen 4:55
A new health center in Frankford aims to alleviate a ‘primary care desert’
Residents in Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood say the area has become a primary care desert, and lacks options for healthy foods.
2 years ago
Philly City Council members look to ban supervised injection sites in several neighborhoods
Several City Council members want to preemptively ban such sites in residential neighborhoods in certain parts of the city.
2 years ago
‘We’re burned out’: Philly nurses raise concerns over hospital jobs and workplace safety
About 900 unionized registered nurses at Einstein Medical Center in North Philadelphia are in contract negotiations with parent company, Jefferson Health.
2 years ago
Strep throat is making a comeback in Philly after pandemic lows
Strep throat is fairly common among school-aged kids, but cases dropped during the pandemic. Now, infections are soaring.
2 years ago
After 30 years, a Philly ‘safe haven’ for addiction treatment has quietly closed
CHANCES was an outpatient substance use treatment program in Philly. It initially opened in the early '90s to serve women and mothers.
2 years ago