Helen Chickering
Morning Edition Host, ReporterHelen Chickering is a host and reporter on Blue Ridge Public Radio. She joined the station in November 2014.
Helen grew up in Texas. Her broadcast career began in television news in 1985 at WLBT, the NBC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. There she did everything from news to weather and found her niche in medical reporting. Over the next 20 years she covered health and science news on both local and national levels, including 5 years in Charlotte at the CBS affiliate, WBTV. In 1998, Helen helped launch the health and science desk at NBC News Channel, the network's affiliate news service. She became the first journalist to serve as president of the National Association of Medical Communicators and was on the founding board of the Science Communicators of North Carolina.
In 2012, Helen and her family moved to Asheville from Chapel Hill and she started working as a freelance producer and as a Montessori teaching assistant. A longtime NPR listener, she was thrilled to land a job at Blue Ridge Public Radio. Helen is an active member of the Asheville Science Tavern and a guest lecturer and an advisory board member at the University of North Carolina's Medical and Science Journalism Program.
Email: hchickering@bpr.org
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A Transylvania County science research and education center with roots in the Space Race is getting back to its original mission, helping NASA track astronauts as they head to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. -
Crews battle active fires in McDowell and counties across the region as drought conditions raise risk statewide. -
An adult case brings the county’s total to seven since Jan. 1 and increases North Carolina’s statewide total to 18. -
Winding Stairs Alpha Fire is 90% contained; the Forest Service is asking for people to send photos from Highway 64 Monday morning. -
The new guidance allows early infant doses and no-cost shots for adults as transmission moves beyond travel-linked cases -
The latest case brings the state’s total to 11 confirmed infections, six of which are in WNC -
All seven of North Carolina’s recent measles cases are in Western North Carolina, including two newly confirmed infections in Buncombe County at a school with low vaccination rate. -
Health officials say a trio of vaccine-preventable illnesses is circulating during an already busy winter virus season. -
The patient has recovered, but several people remain under quarantine while health officials continue outreach and vaccination guidance.
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Preservation work is finished at the Tryon birthplace of the legendary singer, but community planning continues before it opens to the public
