Maddie Bender
Executive Producer, The ConversationMaddie Bender is a science, health, and technology journalist. She has contributed print, digital, and audio stories to outlets including The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Scientific American, Smithsonian and VICE.
She provided production assistance on This Is Our Hawaiʻi, HPR's first narrative podcast, and joined The Conversation in 2024.
She holds a master's degree in epidemiology from the Yale School of Public Health. When not editing out "uhs" and "ums" in interviews, you can find her baking sourdough and teaching group fitness classes.
Contact her at mbender@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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SFGate reporter Christine Hitt spoke to HPR's Maddie Bender about a mysterious land owner who has stirred controversy for hosting an annual festival inspired by Burning Man on property zoned for agriculture. -
Bob Newell and Cheryl Ernst spoke with HPR’s Maddie Bender about celebrating English novelist Jane Austen’s 250th birthday in Hawaiʻi. -
Hawaiʻi County Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz discusses proposed changes to the island's affordable housing rules; Author Christine Kuehn grapples with her family's work as spies for the Nazis in Hawaiʻi in her new book -
Peter Fritsch from the Botanical Research Institute of Texas spoke to HPR's Maddie Bender about his research into the ʻōhelo berry. -
The federal Department of Education will no longer recognize nursing as a professional degree; Tanya Fernandes, CEO of Ho'okele Home Care, discusses the common challenges family members face when using long-term care insurance -
On today's program, we're sharing stories we reported on the scene and in the field, from rural Kauaʻi to downtown Chinatown. -
Staff and community members at the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge spoke to HPR's Maddie Bender on the one day of the year they welcome visitors. -
The Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge marks 40 years amid uncertainty about federal support; New York poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths presents at the Honolulu Museum of Art -
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii Executive Vice President Joe Kent spoke with HPR’s Maddie Bender about the new AI tool called Open Hearings. -
Kim-Anh Nguyen, the CEO of the Blood Bank of Hawaiʻi, shares the urgent need for donors; Joe Kent, Grassroot Institute executive vice president, on creating OpenHearings, an artificial intelligence program that monitors government hearings
