Sam Wang is a Washington correspondent for NTD News based in Washington, D.C. Sam covers politics on Capitol Hill, and U.S.-China relations. 

Sam Wang

NTD Plus

News

News with integrity, from the U.S. and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

Citizens React to Communist Cuba in Crisis

Arleen Richards is NTD's legal correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers all major legal stories. Arleen holds a Doctor of Law (J.D.).


Arleen Richards

Federal Agencies Announce ‘Summer Surge’ of Law Enforcement into DC Ahead of 250th Anniversary

Christina Corona is a California-based reporter for NTD News. She primarily covers California news, politics, and entertainment.  

Christina Corona

Trump Administration Reports Zero Border Releases

Arian Pasdar is an international correspondent for NTD News based in South America. His reporting focuses on immigration and key events in Latin America.

Arian Pasdar

US to Host First Ever World Cup Final Halftime Show, Featuring Shakira, Madonna

David Lam is a national correspondent based in California and a part-time anchor for "NTD Tonight." Before joining NTD he was a financial analyst.

David Lam

Californians React as Trump Calls for Gas Tax Suspension

Jack Bradley is a Washington correspondent for NTD News based in Washington, D.C. Jack previously anchored "NTD Newsroom" and worked as an assistant producer for the show. 

Jack Bradley

China’s Broken Promises Loom Over New Trade Deals

Chris Bob is a reporter for NTD and a host of "Profiles of Service." He is also a small business owner. Chris graduated from Union College with a concentration in politics and religion in Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Chris Bob

House Passes First Fiscal Year 2027 Appropriations Bill

Dave Martin is NTD's Senior Sports Reporter and sports analyst. He also hosts "Data Hub" segments during NTD's special election coverage, "The Nation Decides."

Dave Martin

Cavs, Spurs Can Clinch as NBA Playoffs Resume

Savannah Pointer is a politics reporter for The Epoch Times. She can be reached at savannah.pointer@epochtimes.us

Savannah Hulsey Pointer

Jason Perry is an Army veteran and NTD's National Security Correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Jason primarily covers border security, national defense, foreign wars, and veterans' issues.

Jason Perry

Health News

Texas Children's Hospital to Open First-Ever Detransition Clinic Under Deal With DOJ

Citizens Honor Police for Their Service and Sacrifice

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 16)

Cary Dunst is the news anchor for NTD Evening News. He is also the co-host of NTD Good Morning.


Cary Dunst

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 15)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 14)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 13)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 12)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 11)

Don Ma is an anchor and senior business correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Don is the anchor and producer of NTD's "Business Matters," which airs weekdays at 4:30 pm ET.

Don Ma

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 10)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 9)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 8)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (May 7)

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

China Sends Warships to Pacific Drill as Tensions With Japan Rise

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

2 US Embassy Personnel Assigned to Cartel Case Killed in Car Accident

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

US News

Gunman Kills 8 Children, Including 7 of His Own, in Louisiana Mass Shooting

Flora Hua is a reporter based at NTD's global headquarters in New York City, where she covers China news, U.S.-China relations, and human rights issues. Flora primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus."  

Flora Hua

Trump: Seized Iranian Ship May Have ‘A Gift From China’

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Aldgra Fredly is a freelance writer covering U.S. and Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.

Aldgra Fredly

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani Hospitalized in Critical Condition: Spokesman

Wildfires Across Georgia and Florida Have Destroyed Nearly 50 Homes and Are Forcing Evacuations

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

US Warns of China Hacks via Routers, Smart Devices

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

2 Americans Among Suspected Communist Rebels Killed in Clashes With Troops, Philippine Officials Say

Ryan Morgan is a reporter for The Epoch Times focusing on military and foreign affairs. He was previously a news writer for NTD. 


Ryan Morgan

Mari Otsu is NTD's White House correspondent based in Washington. 

Mari Otsu

World News

Middle East

Iran

3 US Warships Fend Off Iranian Attacks, Trump Says Ceasefire Still Holds

3 Dead in Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on Cruise Ship in Atlantic Ocean: WHO

The director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on April 22 that the new project to identify the causes of autism will likely involve patient records and outside researchers.

“We’d like to … get access to the medical records of a large portion of the American population,” Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the NIH’s director, told reporters in Washington. “I think to answer a question like this—why is autism rising—you need very large samples of people.”

He also said, “Medical records, I believe, should be a very important part of this, because that’s maybe the best way to track the link between exposures and then what happens afterwards.”

The project could draw data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid as well as other parts of the government, such as the military, Bhattacharya said. Patient data would be deanonymized to protect privacy, according to the NIH director.

Bhattacharya had <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25906900/bhattacharya-april-update.pdf">said</a> during an NIH meeting on Monday that the NIH’s data platform would pull data from pharmacy chains, medical claims, federal partnerships, and health organizations.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/rfk-jr-says-us-is-launching-massive-effort-to-pinpoint-cause-of-spiking-autism-rates-5839868">told</a> President Donald Trump earlier in April that health officials had launched a “massive testing and research effort” that would determine what caused the spike in autism. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released on April 15 <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/new-cdc-report-shows-autism-now-impacts-1-in-31-american-children-5842446">showed</a> the rate of autism is up to one in 31 children in America. Autism is a developmental disability that can cause an array of symptoms, including delays in learning skills and epilepsy.

Kennedy <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/health-secretary-says-environmental-factors-not-genetics-behind-spike-in-autism-5842829">told</a> a recent briefing that the rise in autism is attributable to environmental factors, as opposed to genetics or better screening. He said studies would examine possible culprits such as mold and air pollution.

Bhattacharya said that the budget for the project, which will be run out of his office, is not finalized yet but will be in the order of tens of millions of dollars.

The process for picking researchers to be involved will be the normal process, with researchers offering proposals, NIH centers evaluating the proposals, and peer reviewers deciding which projects will be approved.

“I don’t know the exact details [of] what that will look like, but the goal is to use the normal way we do science at the NIH to answer a question that the NIH normally has not sought to answer,” Bhattacharya said.

Bhattacharya said at an unrelated briefing earlier on Tuesday that the reason autism is rising is a question “that is at the front of the minds of so many parents across the country worried about their kids, and yet scientific progress on this has been slow because scientists are frankly scared to ask the question.” He said that the NIH “is going to make it so that those questions are no longer taboo among scientists.”

Kennedy has said that vaccines may be one of the causes of autism. Bhattacharya said during his confirmation hearing that he did not think there was a link between autism and vaccines, based on his reading of the literature, although he said he would support investigating the spike in autism.

Some autism organizations <a href="https://autisticadvocacy.org/2025/04/leading-autism-organizations-release-joint-statement-on-upholding-scientific-integrity-and-supporting-the-autism-community/">said</a> in a joint statement on April 17 that “vaccines do not cause autism.” The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, one of the groups, <a href="https://autisticadvocacy.org/2025/04/trump-and-kennedy-spouting-dangerous-autism-misinformation/">said</a> in a statement that “it is simply impossible that actual research into a supposed environmental cause of autism could be completed by September–real science does not move that quickly.”

Kennedy had told the president that “by September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic,” but Bhattacharya said the project will take longer than that.

Bhattacharya said that the plan is to issue a call for proposals by September. Scientists will then respond to the call, and grants will be approved.

“I would like to have a timeline within a year, where they would start to put out the preliminary results,” he said. He added later: “Secretary Kennedy is enthusiastic to get the scientific process going, and I am too, so … he’s accurately communicating that we want to get moving on this as rapidly as we can.”

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/nih-director-gives-update-on-new-project-to-find-causes-of-autism-5846177">The Epoch Times</a></em>

Latest

Videos

Politics

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

Management

Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at zack.stieber@epochtimes.com

Zachary Stieber

Jason Blair is a national correspondent for NTD News based in California. 

Jason Blair

02_Second Lead

Executive Branch

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.

NIH Director Gives Update on New Project to Find Causes of Autism