Our Staff

Lori Dorfman, DrPH, Director,
was BMSG's first associate director in 1993 and became director in 1998. She earned her doctorate in 1994 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, where she studied how television news frames health issues. Dorfman oversees BMSG's research, media advocacy training, strategic consultation, and education for journalists and consults with programs across the U.S. on a variety of public health issues, helping them apply the principles of media advocacy. Her research examines media portrayals of public health issues, including children's health, food and beverage marketing, nutrition, breastfeeding, violence, and alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. She co-authored the major texts on media advocacy: Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention and News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media; she edited Reporting on Violence: A Handbook for Journalists, which encourages journalists to include a public health perspective in violence reporting and led an interdisciplinary team that conducted workshops on violence reporting for newspapers and local TV news stations. She teaches a course on mass communication at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health and is a trustee on the board of Voices for America's Children. Dorfman co-chairs the Food Marketing Workgroup, a national coalition dedicated to eliminating harmful food marketing.

Research team

Andrew Cheyne, C.Phil, Media Researcher,
leads the research team at BMSG by designing the organization's research projects, writing up and publishing findings, and applying for future work through various funding opportunities. He combines his interest in political activism with his background in media analysis and social science scholarship. He received his B.A. cum laude in American Studies from Northwestern University; his honors thesis compared Northern and Southern media treatments of George Wallace's racialized 1968 presidential campaign. He then spent several years working in research and analysis for consumer protection and digital media organizations. After earning his master's and C.Phil. in political sociology at UCSD, Andrew decided his skills were best applied to a career of policy-oriented research. He is committed to using research to address health inequalities -- especially the powerful role the media play in shaping perceptions about public health issues -- and to helping other advocates achieve their social justice goals. When not working, Andrew is most likely exploring California's backcountry.

Pamela Mejia, MPH, MS, Research Associate III,
joined the BMSG team to provide analysis of how the media shape discussions around public health issues. She graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor's in human nutrition and received her master's degree at UC Berkeley in molecular and biochemical nutrition. Before coming to BMSG, she worked for several years as a clinical research coordinator for English- and Spanish-language nutrition research projects at Children's Hospital Oakland. In 2008 she returned to Berkeley for her MPH and worked as a nutrition counselor for the Alameda County WIC program. At the School of Public Health, she took Dr. Dorfman's media advocacy class, which opened her eyes to the potential of the media to effect change in populations outside the reach of traditional public health interventions. Her research interests include maternal and child health, food justice, and depictions of sexual violence in the media.

Laura Nixon, MPH, Research Associate II,
analyzes media coverage of public health issues and industry marketing practices for BMSG. She graduated from Pomona College with a bachelors degree in Sociology. Her undergraduate thesis explored the framing of the "obesity epidemic" as a public health issue. She worked in public health in Ecuador for several years, where she was involved in qualitative research about a number of topics including sexual and reproductive health activism, young women and abortion, and public health capacity to prevent infectious disease. She returned to the U.S. to earn her master's in public health at U.C. Berkeley. During her time at Berkeley, she worked with the California Department of Public Health's STD Control Branch and U.C. Berkeley's Labor Occupational Health program, conducting qualitative research and media analysis.

Training team

Ingrid Daffner Krasnow, MPH, Strategic Communications Specialist,
provides media advocacy training to public health advocates working on myriad issues throughout California. She has also conducted health communications trainings in Mexico and Brazil and speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Prior to joining BMSG, she worked for more than a decade to broaden reproductive health access at the local, national and international levels. Ingrid has served as the associate editor of the Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, and as a research consultant for the Population Council, Office on Latin America and the Caribbean. Her research interests include framing of women's health issues in the media and the impact of social marketing on contraceptive uptake. Ingrid received her master's in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Julieta Kusnir, MPH, Strategic Communications Specialist,
provides media advocacy trainings locally and beyond. She has contributed to bilingual radio programming in the San Francisco Bay Area for a decade. Her radio pieces have aired on NPR, KCBS, and PRI among other media outlets. Julieta continues to produce and host segments of La Raza Chronicles on KPFA radio with an emphasis on health issues. Julieta's long-time commitment to addressing health inequities, particularly those in the Latino community, drew her back to the university to complete a master's in public health. Her areas of interest in the public health field include the media's impact on civic engagement, as well as popular education strategies. Julieta loves teaching and training. Julieta greatly enjoyed her time at San Francisco State University as a lecturer; she also continues to provide trainings for KPFA radio's apprenticeship program. In 2008, she received an Ethnic Media Health Fellowship through The California Endowment.

Fernando Quintero, Strategic Communications Specialist,
joined BMSG to provide media advocacy training and strategic consultation. Prior to joining BMSG, he worked as a print journalist for several newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel, Rocky Mountain News, San Jose Mercury News and Albuquerque Tribune. He is also the former managing editor of Latino.com, an online content portal. Fernando has covered a variety of beats including health, immigration and demographics. He has served as a communications strategist for the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California's Office of the President as well as several nonprofit organizations and private enterprises. He is also former director of NewsWatch Project, a media watchdog organization based at San Francisco State University that promoted fair and accurate media coverage of the LGBT community and communities of color. Fernando received his B.A. in journalism and public relations from California State University, Fresno, and is a proud alumnus of the Institute for Journalism Education at U.C. Berkeley.

Yvonne Rodriguez, Administrative Manager,
supports staff and consultants on BMSG's training team as they deliver strategic consultation and media advocacy trainings. She works as a dedicated team player by coordinating logistical arrangements, developing and producing training materials, conducting background research for tailored trainings, and assisting with other program projects. Prior to joining BMSG, she worked for five years in the marketing and development field producing numerous seminars and focus groups and was instrumental in the success of various marketing events and projects. She earned her B.A. in criminal justice from San Francisco State University.

Lezak Shallat, Strategic Communications Specialist,
has spent most of her professional life as a journalist and communications consultant in Central and South America. Lezak has led advocacy and information campaigns at the community, Latin American and international levels on many public health issues, particularly tobacco control, women's health/rights and consumer protection. A California native, she holds a certificate in Communications for Behavior Impact from New York University and a master's from the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Communications

Heather Gehlert, MJ, Online Communications Specialist,
is a writer, editor and project manager at BMSG, where she oversees the organization's website and social media presence. She holds a master's degree in journalism with an emphasis in new media from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in English and communications from Westminster College in Missouri. Before coming to BMSG, Heather was managing editor for AlterNet.org, an online news magazine in San Francisco. She has also spent time as a multimedia journalism coach for San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the Los Angeles Times, the Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe.

Administration

Angela Burke, Financial Analyst,
provides fiscal and grants management support for BMSG. She has been working in the non-profit sector for eight years with a focus on organizational and financial management. She joined BMSG from another program of the Public Health Institute, Partnership for the Public's Health, where she held the position of Finance, Operations and Grants Manager and served on PPH's management team. Before joining PHI, she was the Program Coordinator for the China Program with Holt International Children's Services, working to serve children in China through foster care and HIV family preservation programs, vocational programs, nutrition programs, financial and medical assistance. She has a B.A. in English and political science from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a certificate in non-profit management from San Jose State University.

Susan Paul, Executive Assistant,
provides administrative support for BMSG's director and staff. Before coming to BMSG, Susan worked for 10 years at Partnership for the Public's Health, both as a Program Officer and Administrative and Human Resources Manager. After taking a short break to earn her coaching certification at the Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael, she now complements her work at BMSG with a consulting practice in career coaching and corporate work-life balance training. Susan has a B.A. in organizational psychology from U.C. Berkeley.

Fellows

Lawrence Wallack, MPH, MS, Senior Fellow,
has been Dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs Portland State University since 2004. He is also Emeritus Professor of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, where he served on the faculty from 1983 to 2000. In 1993, he was the founding director of BMSG and is one of the architects of media advocacy. He has published extensively and lectures frequently on news media and public health policy issues. Dr. Wallack is the principal author of News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media, (Sage, 1999) and Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention (Sage, 1993). He was formerly president of the Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, the national Policy Consensus Initiative, and the Praxis Project. He is also a member of the Oregon Health Improvement Plan Committee of the Oregon Health Policy Board and has served as a member on several Institute of Medicine committees. Dr. Wallack has been honored with several awards, including the Innovators Award (2000-05) from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which recognized lifetime achievement and innovation in the area of prevention.

During September, Dr. Wallack will start a sabbatical as a Senior Public Health Fellow at the Moore Institute at Oregon Health and Science University and a Senior Scholar at the Berkeley Media Studies Group. At the Moore Institute, he will work on synthesizing, translating and applying the biological and social science findings on the developmental origins of health and disease at the community, regional and state level. Working with BMSG, he will focus on framing this knowledge to enhance effective communication about the significant policy implications.

Interns

Caity Dekker, Intern,
is a rising sophomore at Oberlin College. She is currently undeclared but plans to study psychology, anthropology, comparative American studies and creative writing. She works as a research assistant in Oberlin's psychology department, will be a staffer in the school's Sexual Information Center this September, and hopes to have her second radio show with WOBC (Oberlin College and community's radio station) air in the fall. During her time at BMSG, Caity will be monitoring the news, exploring the role of media advocacy in creating policy change, curating content for BMSG's social media networks, and providing other communications support for the organization's online operations.