Stefanie Friedhoff is co-founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab and a Professor of the Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. She is a leading journalism, communications and global health strategist with 30 years of experience in international media, academia and government. At Brown, she researches rapidly changing information ecosystems and the relationship between information inequities and health outcomes, and partners with creators of trusted information on new models for meeting the information needs of diverse communities.  

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Friedhoff has built coalitions and translated evidence to fill gaps and initiate action in the public health response, including her role as a lead research and design partner in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Equity-First Vaccination Initiative and co-creator of the Justice, Health and Democracy Initiative at Harvard University. Her innovative communications initiatives, such as globalepidemics.org and the Twitter tool Preprint Sifter, media partnerships and publications have reached millions of people around the globe.

Previously, Friedhoff served as a senior policy advisor on the White House Covid-19 Response Team under president Biden; was Director of Content and Strategy at the Harvard Global Health Institute; has worked as a foreign correspondent, feature writer and magazine editor on three continents; and led Programs and Special Projects at The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, where she was a 2001 Nieman fellow. She currently serves on the Communications and Engagement Work Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a Senior Advisor to the Global Listening Project; and a Trustee of the Trust for Trauma Journalism. 

Kaylin Dodson is a researcher focused on misinformation affecting Black and Brown communities. Most recently she was an Investigative Researcher at First Draft where she worked on the Rockefeller Foundation sponsored Equity-First Vaccine Initiative along with writing a report on vaccine misinformation affecting Black communities on social media sponsored by the Rita Allen Foundation. She previously has done freelance writing and research for The Guardian, Medium, and Vice. Kaylin received her BA in Journalism and Design from The New School in 2020.

Leneli Liggayu was most recently the Development Associate at First Draft, specializing in overall grants management, fundraising initiatives, and operations assistance. Her background also includes work as a litigation paralegal at Pryor Cashman LLP and as an administrative assistant to the non-profit, the New York League of Independent Bankers. She received her BS in Journalism from St. John’s University.

Aisha Johnson manages the Information Futures Fellows program, which helps empower community leaders, scientists, journalists, and public health practitioners to respond and contribute to the information discourse. She works to connect the Fellows with resources and support from IFL. Aisha previously worked at Harvard University’s Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning, where she was integral in forming the Program Services team and developing its processes for overseeing a portfolio of premium online classes. She has also been a kindergarten teacher and a community organizer with nonprofits, including the Community Resource Exchange in New York City, where she helped connect educators with professional development opportunities. She holds a BA in Communications from Quinnipiac University.

Rory Smith has a background in data journalism, misinformation research and international development. He has worked on violence prevention policy in Latin America and refugee resettlement in Sweden. As a journalist, he has covered various topics from immigration and food policy to politics and organized crime for CNN, Vox, and Vice. Prior to Brown, he was the research manager at First Draft, where he focused on investigating different facets of misinformation. 

Shaydanay Urbani is interested in the impact of technology on information, foreign policy and human rights. Her background is in misinformation research, criminal justice reporting, and food and sustainability ventures. Prior to Brown, she led on training and partnerships at First Draft, where she worked with NGOs and media organizations to understand and respond to misinformation more ethically and effectively. She received her bachelors in environmental studies from UCLA and her masters from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in New York.

Daisy Winner is a Program Manager in the Brown University School of Public Health Dean’s Incubator, where she focuses on vaccine equity, health misinformation, and health disparities. In this role, Daisy aims to bring together research, activism, and storytelling to build and strengthen health equity. Prior to Brown, she worked at the Harvard Global Health Institute, where she focused on health misinformation, pandemics, and racial disparities in health and with Seed Global Health where she oversaw a portfolio of projects focused on strengthening medical and nursing education in several sub-Saharan African countries. She holds a BA in Psychology and Global Health from Lesley University.