Iris Diaz, Trainer,
Iris Diaz designs and conducts media advocacy training for community groups and young people working throughout California in violence prevention. She has extensive experience consulting with communities to understand and effectively use the power of the news media to promote policies that advance social and public health goals. Ms. Diaz ia a co-author of News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media.She continues to present at national conferences and to write articles about media advocacy. Prior to working with the Berkeley Media Studies Group, Ms. Diaz worked as an AIDS Counselor for the Shanti Project in San Francisco. She also has 10 years of television experience as Associate Producer and Producer of segments for children's programming, documentaries, specials and health-care related videos at KRON-TV, KPIX-TV, KQEDTV in San Francisco, and Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California.

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. Her recent research examines how local television news and newspapers portray youth and violence, and family violence. Dorfman conducts training for grass roots organizations and public health leaders, consults for government agencies and community programs across the U.S. and internationally, publishes articles on public health and mass communication, and teaches a course for masters students on mass communication and public health at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. She co-authored the major texts on media advocacy: Public Health and Media Advocacy: Power for Prevention and News for a Change: An Advocates' 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. She is part of an interdisciplinary team that conducts workshops on violence reporting for newspapers and local TV news stations.

Ingrid Dries-Daffner, 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 od social marketing on contraceptive uptake. Ingrid received her Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Nourbese Flint, Program Assistant,
has a personal aspiration to leave the world better than she found it by promoting good health practices while improving the health and wellness of her community locally and in globally.  She graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. in Journalism and a B.A. in African American Studies. While in school, she worked as a Program Director at Black Women For Wellness creating and facilitating STD/HIV prevention education. In addition she published via the web a collection of interviews with alternative health professionals across Los Angeles. In 2006 she worked as an intern for KPFK Pacifica news as an evening reporter. She studied under writers at NBC Universal in San Jose learning how to write for the evening news. In 2005 Nourbese spent time in Edinburgh studying British journalism and was a production editor of the spring edition of Impulse magazine. In 2007 she studied the health, education and culture in Cuba on a study abroad program. When Nourbese has free time she continues to volunteer for Women’s Intercultural Network, studies Spanish and French, and watches sci-fi and 90’s cartoons.

Katrina Hayes, Administrative Coordinator,
is the pleasant voice that greets callers to BMSG. She has been with BMSG since 2001, coordinating training materials and logistics for the Training Team and keeping the whole office running smoothly. When not at work, Katrina is busy with her family, which grew from no children to four children in a little over a year. To say the least, she works fast.

Sonja Herbert , MPH, Project Director,
is dedicated to helping advocates achieve policy change to improve public health. She specializes in training advocates to reframe news coverage and public debates in ways that highlight policy solutions. She earned her Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. in history from Oberlin College. Her public policy experience includes advocacy at the state and federal levels on issues such as women's health, sexuality education, and children's health insurance. She serves on the board of director's for the National Women's Health Network, an advocacy organization based in Washington D.C. She co-authored the BMSG publication, Making the Case for Early Care and Education: A Message Development Guide for Advocates. In addition, she has published a wide variety of women's health and advocacy articles including a chapter entitled  "Harnessing the Power of the Internet for Advocacy and Organizing" which appears in the public health textbook Community Organizing and Community Building for Health.

Katie Woodruff, MPH, Deputy Director,
oversees the administration of BMSG's programs and provides strategic consultation and media advocacy training for community groups and public health professionals nationwide. She has worked on a range of public health and public interest issues, including violence prevention, alcohol control, tobacco control, injury control, children's health, child care, and affirmative action. She also conducts research on news content and has published case studies and articles on applying media advocacy to public health and social justice issues. She has a Masters in Public Health, with a focus on Community Health Education, from the University of California at Berkeley, and a B.A. in Creative Writing from Brown University. Woodruff is co-author of News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media.