Kerry Klein
ReporterKerry Klein is an award-winning reporter whose coverage of public health, air pollution, drinking water access and wildfires in the San Joaquin Valley has been featured on NPR, KQED, Science Friday and Kaiser Health News. Her work has earned numerous regional Edward R. Murrow and Golden Mike Awards and has been recognized by the Association of Health Care Journalists and Society of Environmental Journalists. Her podcast Escape From Mammoth Pool was named a podcast “listeners couldn’t get enough of in 2021” by the radio aggregator NPR One.
After growing up near Boston, Kerry graduated from McGill University with a B.S. in geology. When she began working as an exploration geologist and geothermal energy analyst, radio reporting was a distant and unlikely future. But she found new significance in media while hosting a talk show about science at a Montreal public radio station and later while producing a podcast for Science Magazine. She later returned to school to study science journalism at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
When she’s not in front of a computer or microphone, Kerry can be found biking to the rock climbing gym, practicing her violin, sewing unnecessary but very cute articles of clothing, or wandering the Sierra foothills with her husband and daughter.
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Kerry Klein’s reporting on infant and maternal mortality in Kern County and Bakersfield OB-GYN Dr. Arthur Park began with an email from the Medical Board of California in 2019. -
After her daughter and grandson died following what the Medical Board of California alleged to be negligent care from a Bakersfield OB-GYN, Tracy Dominguez embarked on a crusade to reform the agency and prevent other patients from experiencing similar tragedies.
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By the time OB-GYN Dr. Arthur Park surrendered his license in late 2021, all four of Bakersfield’s hospitals had been sued by patients of his, and at least two had paid out settlements. One, Mercy Hospital Southwest, was also found to have made errors in the days leading up to the death of one of his patients.
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The medical board accused a Bakersfield OB-GYN of negligence. But he kept practicing for two decadesThe California medical board accused Bakersfield obstetrician Dr. Arthur Park of gross negligence following several patient deaths. But he kept his medical license for more than 20 years. How did the medical and legal systems allow that to happen?
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Kern County has one of the highest infant mortality rates in California and mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth in the San Joaquin Valley at a higher rate than in any other region of the state. Simultaneously, research shows that maternal mortality rates are rising among the country’s Latino population.
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As the Washburn Fire grows near Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park, around 1,600 people in the nearby community of Wawona have been ordered to evacuate, including high-schoolers at a summer camp
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For a second year in a row, the death rate at the hospital was the highest of any state hospital or prison, with the exception of a prison medical facility.
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Our investigation last year found the death rate at the hospital was even higher than at state prisons with some of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the country.
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World Refugee Day, Coalinga State Hospital patient update, Cal Fire investigation, FOOSA philharmonic
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Improving teacher diversity, Pride poetry and dance, plus some of the KVPR news team’s favorite stories.
