Shadee Ashtari is a third-year PhD student at USC Annenberg. Her research interests include risk communication and vaccine confidence, media/health literacy, and group cohesion and decision-making.
Before joining Annenberg, Ashtari served as advisor to the dean of the UCLA School of Medicine and chief editor of UCLA Health’s patient, executive and crisis communications. Prior to UCLA, Ashtari worked as a political reporter and editor at The Huffington Post, a congressional campaign policy analyst and speechwriter, and a health communication researcher at the Johns Hopkins Institute of Genetic Medicine and City of Hope.
As a journalist, communication researcher and organizational change leader, Ashtari’s professional contributions have been recognized by national media and trade associations, including Ragan Communications, Inc. and the Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Association.
Ashtari holds a master of science in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a concentration in health policy and management, and a BA in communication from UCLA with a minor in political science.