An edited transcript of a panel discussion held at the Writers Guild of America, West July 20, 2009 The Norman Lear Center WORLD OF STORIES THE NORMAN LEAR CENTER HOLLYWOOD, HEALTH & SOCIETY The Norman Lear Center is a nonpartisan research and Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of public policy center that studies the social, political, the Norman Lear Center, provides entertainment economic and cultural impact of entertainment on industry professionals with accurate and timely the world. The Lear Center translates its findings information for health storylines. Funded by the into action through testimony, journalism, strategic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The research and innovative public outreach campaigns. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The California On campus, from its base in the USC Annenberg Endowment and the National Institutes of Health, School for Communication & Journalism, the Lear HH&S recognizes the profound impact that Center builds bridges between schools and disciplines entertainment media have on individual knowledge whose faculty study aspects of entertainment, media and behavior. HH&S supplies writers and producers and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the gap with accurate health information through between the entertainment industry and academia, individual consultations, tip sheets, group briefings, and between them and the public. Through a technical assistance hotline, panel discussions at scholarship and research; through its conferences, the Writers Guild of America, West, a quarterly public events and publications; and in its attempts newsletter and Web links to health information and to illuminate and repair the world, the Lear Center public service announcements. The program also works to be at the forefront of discussion and practice conducts extensive evaluations on the content and in the field. impact of TV health storylines. For more information, please visit: For more information, please visit: www.learcenter.org. www.usc.edu/hhs. www.learcenter.org 2 The Norman Lear Center WORLD OF STORIES PARTICIPANTS Sandra de Castro Buffington, MPH, is Neal Baer, MD, is a Harvard–trained phy- director of Hollywood, Health & Society, a sician, practicing pediatrician, and award program of the USC Annenberg Norman winning television writer and producer. Lear Center that leverages the power of Since 2000 he has been the Showrunner the entertainment industry to improve and Executive Producer of the NBC series the health and well being of individuals Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Be- and communities worldwide. She has fore his tenure at Law and Order, he was nearly 30 years of experience working in Executive Producer of ER. Recently, his global health, entertainment education mentorship of a Mozambican HIV/AIDS and emergence technologies; 20 years orphan resulted in the documentary film were spent working internationally, and Home Is Where You Find It. He was also five of those years were spent in residence overseas. Formerly Vice an adjunct professor (2001–2005) at the President of the Centre for Development and Population Activi- University of Southern California teaching in the area of health ties (CEDPA), Sandra guided the flagship WomenLead program communications, health promotion and disease prevention, and to equip, mobilize and empower women globally and nurtured sex education. He is Co-Chair of Hollywood, Health & Society. a network of 5,000 alumni in 140 countries. With USAID, she Dr. Baer’s primary medical interests are in adolescent health, and led the development of a $250 million strategic framework for he has written extensively for teens on such topics as teen preg- global health leadership and management and managed a $108 nancy, AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse and nutrition. He also serves million portfolio of strategic communication programs worldwide. on the boards of numerous health care organizations, including With the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication the Venice Family Clinic, Advocates for Youth, Children Now, and Programs, Sandra launched an award-winning vasectomy promo- Physicians for Social Responsibility. tion campaign in Brazil, earning seven international advertising awards including a Bronze Lion at the Cannes Film Festival and Gold Medal at the London International Advertising Awards. She Tadataka (Tachi) Yamada, MD, presi- is a former associate faculty member at The Johns Hopkins Univer- dent of the Bill & Melinda Gates Founda- sity Bloomberg School of Public Health and a past Board member tion’s Global Health Program, leads the of the Pan American Health and Education Foundation. foundation’s efforts to help develop and deliver low-cost, life-saving health tools for the developing world. He oversees Patric M. Verrone is a television writer, Global Health’s grantmaking, which fo- attorney, and President of the Writers cuses on four major activities: discovery, Guild of America, West. In 2007-08, development, delivery, and advocacy. he led that union through the 100 day Before joining the foundation, Yamada strike that won writers a contract cover- served as chairman of research and devel- ing the Internet. He graduated magna opment and was a member of the board cum laude from Harvard College where of directors at GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to that, he was chairman of he was an officer of The Harvard Lam- the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan poon and earned his J.D. from Boston Medical School and physician-in-chief at the University of Michi- College Law School after serving as edi- gan Medical Center. Yamada is a past president of the American tor of the Boston College Law Review. Gastroenterological Association and the Association of American For ten years he was issue editor of the Physicians, a master of the American College of Physicians, and a Annual Entertainment Law issue of Los Angeles Lawyer magazine. member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of His television writing credits include The Tonight Show Starring Science in the United States and the Academy of Medical Sciences Johnny Carson, The Larry Sanders Show, The Critic, The Simpsons, in the United Kingdom. The mission of The Bill & Melinda Gates Pinky and the Brain, Rugrats, Muppets Tonight!, Class of 3000, Global Health Program is to help ensure that advances in health and Futurama. He has been nominated for eight Emmys in four are created and shared with those who need them most. The pro- categories and won two. He has also received an Environmental gram works with organizations around the world that are using Media Award, an ASIFA Annie Award, a People’s Choice Award innovative methods to improve health in developing countries. nomination and the Writers Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award The program also supports advocacy efforts to build awareness for Animation Writing. He was #75 in last year’s Time Magazine of global health challenges, develop new ways to finance health poll of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He has spo- programs, and improve health data. ken all over the world on media, entertainment, and law. www.learcenter.org 3 The Norman Lear Center WORLD OF STORIES PARTICIPANTS Peter Blake is a Co-Executive Producer David Harden is a former Executive Story on the Fox TV show House where he has Editor for the television series Numb3rs been on staff for the last five years. Peter (CBS). For his work on the Numb3rs epi- attended Harvard Law School and worked sode “Harvest,” about global organ traf- as a management consultant and a film ficking, David was the 2006 recipient development executive before becoming of the Sentinel Award from Hollywood, a writer. Before House, Peter wrote for Health & Society, a program of the USC ABC’s The Practice for four years and has Annenberg Norman Lear Center. He has written feature film scripts for Universal, also developed pilots for Warner Bros Tele- Focus Features and Paramount. vision, including a whimsical adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (“Wendy & Peter”). He has published fiction, mostly science-fiction, in Zyzzyva, The Exquisite Corpse and elsewhere. Prior to his time in Hollywood, Lawrence Barat, MD, MPH, serves as David worked in private equity, served as the CEO of a software Senior Malaria Advisor at the US Agency firm, was the Ahmanson Fellow for Renaissance History at UCLA, for International Development (USAID), and worked at the rodeo in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He lives in Los working on the $1.2 billion President’s Angeles with his wife and two children. Malaria Initiative. With fifteen years ex- perience, Dr. Barat has become known as one of the foremost authorities on the control of malaria.He received his degree George Rutherford, MD, is Director of in Medicine in 1986 from SUNY Down- the Prevention and Public Health Group, state Medical Center. After completing Salvatore Pablo Lucia Professor of Preven- a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at tive Medicine, and Head of the Division Boston University School of Medicine, he joined the faculty and of Preventive Medicine and Public Health worked with the Boston City Hospital Clinical AIDS Program and in the Department of Epidemiology and the Harvard Hospitals/Boston City Hospital AIDS Clinical Trials Biostatistics in the School of Medicine at Unit. From 1992 to 1993, Dr. Barat served as AIDS Policy Advisor UCSF. He is also Adjunct Professor of Epi- (“AIDS Czar”) for the Mayor and Health Commissioner of Bos- demiology and Health Administration at ton. After completing the MPH program at