Shadee [shaw-dee] is a fourth-year doctoral candidate at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, an assistant editor for the International Journal of Communication and a graduate student instructor at USC. Her research interests include media literacy and education, public policy, health and risk communication, mis/disinformation, and scale methodology.

Before joining Annenberg, Shadee 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 at City of Hope Cancer Center.

As a journalist, communication researcher and organizational change leader, Shadee’s professional contributions have been recognized by national media and trade associations, including Ragan Communications, Inc. and the Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Association.

She 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; an MA in Communication from USC Annenberg; and a BA in communication from UCLA with a minor in political science.