Chatterjee briefed National Press Foundation fellows in May 2024: Responsible Mental Health Reporting: Tips from Journalists. 

Rhitu Chatterjee is a health correspondent with NPR, with a focus on mental health. She is particularly interested in covering mental health problems faced by the most vulnerable, especially pregnant women, children, racial minorities, immigrants and refugees. Chatterjee has covered the many ways in which the pandemic and pandemic-related stressors exacerbated mental health conditions in groups that were already struggling, especially children and healthcare workers.

She has also reported on how the chronic stress of racism worsens the mental health and pregnancy outcomes among Black women, how perinatal depression affects women and their children, and how violent conflict and migration affects the mental health of children and families. She has also reported on how insurance companies deny coverage for life-saving treatments for mental health care issues.

Before coming to NPR, Chatterjee spent years covering global health, science and the environmental for The World, from PRX. She has also worked as a New Delhi-based contributing correspondent for Science magazine. Chatterjee grew up in various parts of India, but has lived in the United States for more than two decades. When she’s not working, she’s often cooking big meals for family and friends or entertaining her four-year-old.