Seema Yasmin

Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, medical doctor, author, and the Director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative. In addition to her directorial role, Yasmin is a clinical assistant professor in Stanford University’s Department of Medicine, where she focuses on teaching advanced communication skills to medical school faculty and medical journalism to students. Her extensive academic involvement also includes her position as a visiting professor at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA, where she teaches crisis management and communications.

Yasmin was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news in 2017, alongside her team from The Dallas Morning News, for her reporting on a mass shooting. Her journalistic prowess has not only earned her two awards from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting but also recognition from the United States Public Health Service for leading epidemic investigations during her tenure as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Beyond print, Yasmin is a medical analyst for CNN and a correspondent for Conde Nast Entertainment. She is an accomplished author, with titles such as "The Impatient Dr. Lange: One Man’s Fight to End a Global HIV Epidemic", "Muslim Women Are Everything: Stereotype-Shattering Stories of Courage, Inspiration and Adventure", "If God Is a Virus: The Ebola Poems", and "What the Fact? Finding the Truth in All the Noise".

Her writings, which span a wide range of literary styles, have been recognized by the Mid Atlantic Arts Council, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts, earning her awards and residencies. She has also been the recipient of the Mayborn Award for Literary Non-Fiction and the Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. After completing her medical training at the University of Cambridge, Yasmin refined her journalistic skills at the University of Toronto and subsequently worked as a staff writer at The Dallas Morning News, where she notably covered Ebola’s arrival in Texas.

Yasmin's scholarly work centers around the spread of health misinformation and disinformation, the growth of medical and news deserts, and their subsequent impact on public health. Her expertise in epidemics, science communication, and journalism have been utilized by the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the Skoll World Forum. She has also been invited to speak at notable venues including the Vatican and the White House.