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 Staff
The founding Director of The Norman Lear Center, Martin Kaplan has been Principal Investigator of Hollywood, Health & Society since its inception in 2001. He was associate dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism for 10 years and holds the Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment, Media & Society. A Harvard summa cum laude in molecular biology, he has an M.A. in English from Cambridge University where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a doctorate from Stanford in modern thought and literature. He was Vice President Walter Mondale’s chief speechwriter and deputy national campaign manager of Mondale’s 1984 presidential bid. He was vice president of motion picture production at the Walt Disney Studios; as a screenwriter and producer, his credits include “The Distinguished Gentleman,” starring Eddie Murphy, and the screen adaptation of Michael Frayn’s play “Noises Off,” directed by Peter Bogdanovich.
Sandra de Castro Buffington, named one of the "100 Most Influential Hispanics" in America by Poder Magazine, is director of Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center that leverages the power of the entertainment industry to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities worldwide. Sandra provides resources to leading scriptwriters and producers with the goal of improving the accuracy of health-related storylines on top television programs and films, resulting in more than 380 aired storylines over the span of two years. She has nearly 30 years of experience working in global health, entertainment education and emergence technologies; 20 years were spent working internationally, and five of those years were spent in residence overseas. Read more. Contact her at sandra.buffington@usc.edu.
Erica Rosenthal Erica Rosenthal is the Research Specialist for the Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) program at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, where she evaluates the impact of health-related television storylines on viewers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, and manages the TV Monitoring Project. She is a Ph.D. candidate in social psychology at Claremont Graduate University (CGU), with an emphasis in applied research methods and quantitative analysis. Her dissertation research examines potential cognitive and motivational barriers to media literacy. She has also conducted research on the “digital divide” in obtaining health information online and the effects of stereotypical portrayals in reality television. Erica has several years of experience evaluating health, educational, and social programs in Los Angeles County and beyond. She holds a B.A. in psychobiology (concentration in women’s studies) from Swarthmore College, and an M.A. in psychology from CGU. She anticipates completing her Ph.D. in spring 2012. Contact Erica at erosenth@usc.edu.
Chris Dzialo is the Transmedia Outreach specialist for the Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) program at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, where he serves as a resource for new media creators producing accurate and timely health-related storylines and experiences. He is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara in film and media studies, and holds a master’s degree in critical studies from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His dissertation, in progress, explores the relative obsession with medical symptoms in popular U.S. film, television, and new media. Prior to his academic life, Chris studied production at Boston University and gained experience in both the London and Hollywood film industries. Contact Chris at dzialo@usc.edu.
Armine Kourouyan is a program coordinator for the Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) program at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. She has experience working at the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters, specializing in risk communication, where she worked to teach public health professionals how to effectively communicate risk to the public and media in the event of an emergency or disaster. She has a background in entertainment education through her work with The Media Project, a program of Advocates for Youth, providing the entertainment industry with the latest facts, research, and script consultations on sexual and reproductive health issues for adolescents. Armine holds a Master of Public Health from UCLA, from the department of Community Health Sciences. She received a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley and is certified as a Community Health Education Specialist (CHES). Contact Armine at armine.kourouyan@usc.edu.
Sylvia Estafan is a program specialist for the Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) program at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. Sylvia worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where she led workforce development for the department's health education staff and planned county-wide campaigns. In her position, she also served on the communications branch of the Department Operations Center, where she was mobilized during public health emergencies to craft health education messaging for the community. She worked as a sexual health educator at both UC Berkeley and Berkeley High School Health Center, where she conducted community outreach and clinical health education. Sylvia holds a Master of Public Health from UCLA in Community Health Sciences, with an emphasis in health education. She received a B.S. in Sociology from UC Berkeley. Contact her at estafan@usc.edu.
Christine Lee is the Program Assistant for the Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S) program at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center. She completed her B.S. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the University of Southern California, where she interned at the Office of Communications at the Los Angeles Department of Health Services, as well as at HH&S. Prior to returning to HH&S, Christine worked for the Tobacco Free Initiative at the World Health Organization, Western Pacific Region Office where she assisted in the facilitation of data analysis and program policy training workshops, and analyzed the prevalence of tobacco use portrayed in the region’s popular films. Contact Christine at leechris@usc.edu or (323) 782-3323. |
