April Dembosky

KQED Health Correspondent

April Dembosky is the health correspondent for KQED News and a regular contributor to NPR. She specializes in covering altered states of mind, from postpartum depression to methamphetamine-induced psychosis to the insanity defense. Her investigative series on insurance companies sidestepping mental health laws won multiple awards, including first place in beat reporting from the national Association of Health Care Journalists. She is the recipient of numerous other prizes and fellowships, including a national Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting, a Society of Professional Journalists award for long-form storytelling, and a Carter Center Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. Dembosky reported and produced Soundtrack of Silence, an audio documentary about music and memory that is currently being made into a feature film by Paramount Pictures. Before joining KQED in 2013, Dembosky covered technology and Silicon Valley for The Financial Times of London, and contributed business and arts stories to Marketplace and The New York Times. She got her undergraduate degree in philosophy from Smith College and her master's in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a classically trained violinist and proud alum of the first symphony orchestra at Burning Man.

By April DemboskyBy April Dembosky

A person with long hair kneels near some small objects on the ground in a wooded area.

Californians Eager for Human Composting After They Die

FCI Dublin Women's Prison in Dublin on Aug. 16, 2023.

Fate of Infamous Dublin Women's Prison Now in Hands of Federal Judge

An adult and a child sit together at a table smiling at the camera.

Kaiser Eases Restrictions on Postpartum Depression Care After Investigations

A mother with a baby on her lap sits next to a 3-year-old, who is playing with a toy needle and an Elmo doll.

'This Is Not Rocket Science': A Doctor's Mission to Overcome Children's Fear of Needles

One woman interviews another woman on a stage. On the wall behind them, it says 'Endwell.'

Why Some Doctors Are Pushing Hollywood to Depict Death and Dying More Realistically on TV

Two young Asian women stand next to each other, with the woman on the right keeping her hand on her hip behind a sign that reads "Young Women Run 2023 Politics Our Way."

Affluent Parents Criticize California’s Mental Health Law for Low-Income Teens

Workers in red shirts and carrying protest signs walk in a tight crowd.

Patients Demand California Enforce Its Landmark Mental Health Law

College-Bound Californians Prepare For Abortion Bans Out of State

A woman lies on a medical bed while being attended to by medical staff.

College-Bound Californians Navigate Abortion Bans Away From Home