Biography

Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, medical doctor, professor and author. She is director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, clinical assistant professor in Stanford University’s Department of Medicine, and 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 with a team from The Dallas Morning News for coverage of a mass shooting. She is the recipient of two awards from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Her reporting appears in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, WIRED, Scientific American, and other outlets. She is a medical analyst for CNN and a correspondent for Conde Nast Entertainment.

Yasmin is a fiction fellow of the Kundiman and Tin House writing workshops. Her poems and short stories have been published in literary magazines and anthologies including The BreakBeat Poets Vol 3: Halal If You Hear Me, New Moons: Contemporary Writing by North American Muslims, The Georgia Review, The Literary Review, Foundry, The Los Angeles Review, and others. Her writing has earned awards and residencies from the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Mid Atlantic Arts Council, Hedgebrook, and others.

After training in medicine at the University of Cambridge, Yasmin served as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she investigated outbreaks in prisons, hospitals, reservations and other settings; principal investigator for a number of epidemiologic studies; and deployed as strategic advisor to foreign ministries of health. She trained in journalism at the University of Toronto and worked as a staff writer at The Dallas Morning News covering Ebola’s arrival in Texas.

Her scholarly work focuses on the spread of health misinformation and disinformation, the growth of medical and news deserts, and the impact on public health. She teaches creative nonfiction including health and science journalism, global health storytelling, practicing medicine with empathy and compassion, and advanced clinical communication skills.

Her unique combination of expertise in epidemics, science communication and journalism has been called upon by the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, the Aspen Ideas Festival and the Skoll World Forum.

Current Roles at Stanford:

  • Clinical Assistant Professor, Stanford Medical School
  • Director, Research and Education Programs, Stanford Health Communication Initiative
  • Lecturer, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences

Honors and Awards:

  • Mayborn Award for Literary Non-Fiction, Mayborn School of Journalism, University of North Texas. (2015)
  • Mayborn Award for Literary Non-Fiction, Mayborn School of Journalism, University of North Texas (2016)
  • Westfield Trust Prize for Academic Excellence, Queen Mary University of London (2005)
  • Unit Commendation, United States Public Health Service (2014)
  • Public Health Award for Media Excellence in Print Media, Texas Public Health Association (2015)
  • National Health Journalism Fellowship Award, Center for Health Journalism, University of Southern California (2015)
  • John P. McGovern Award in Health Promotion, University of Texas at Austin (2016)
  • Physician Excellence in Reporting, Texas Medical Association (2016)
  • Finalist, Pulitzer Prize (2017)Reporting award, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (2015)
  • Reporting award, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (2017)
  • Emmy, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2016)

Education & Certifications

  • MD, University of Cambridge
  • Journalism, University of Toronto
  • Biochemistry, Queen Mary University of London
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Videos

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THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS

- The impact of Covid-19 on the future of tech, medicine and business.
- How work, travel and leisure could change post-pandemic.

IMPERFECT LEADERS: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Format: ​45-60 minute keynote, 1/2 day workshop or 2 hour breakout



Live a life of consequence, be the person that does the most good, but know that you can be your imperfect self and still be a hero.



When Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by pro-Russian rebels in July 2014, the world wondered if a cure for HIV had fallen from the sky and disappeared among the burning debris. Seated in the plane’s business-class cabin was Joseph Lange, better known as Joep, a shrewd Dutch doctor who had revolutionized the world of HIV and AIDS and was working on a cure.



Dr. Lange graduated from medical school in 1981, right as a new plague swept across the globe. His story became intertwined with the story of HIV. At once a physician, scientist, AIDS activist, and medical diplomat, Lange studied ways to battle HIV and prevent its spread from mother to child. Fighting the injustices of poverty, Lange advocated for better access to health care for the poor and the vulnerable. He championed the drug cocktail that finally helped rein in the disease and was a vocal proponent of prophylactic treatment for those most at risk of contracting HIV. But he was far from perfect. 



This talk will show leaders of organizations that as long as they get off their imperfect butts and work their imperfect skills and try their imperfect hardest, they can and will make a difference.

ADVANCE YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS: GET SMART, STAY CALM

Humans are not good at calculating relative risk. Compound that with emotion and panic, and poor decision-making can set in quickly. So how should we calculate risk, anticipate mistakes and be willing and ready to pivot? More importantly, how can we get smart and stay calm when our brain and emotions are telling us to do otherwise?

This program is perfect for:

Organizations in high risk situations including medical environments. ​C-Level, Senior Management, managers of underperforming sales groups, and teams struggling with forward momentum.
The audience will leave with:

​Leaders will understand how to accelerate actionable change and avoid knee-jerk reactions in the most challenging environments.
Relative risk is confusing and riddled with jargon. Audience will learn how to boil issues down to facts and communicate them in layman’s terms.
If a risk becomes reality, this session will teach you how to weather the storm, keep your organization positive and reduce negative publicity.

TELL ME A BEDTIME…FACT? COMPEL TO PROPEL: CREATE CAPTIVATING COMMUNICATION THROUGH STORYTELLING

A good story gets repeated. Learn the science of storytelling and what neuroscience is teaching us about how stories affect our brains and our behaviors. Does your story share even mundane and ordinary topics in such a way that the listener is engaged and excited to learn more? Does your enthusiasm compel your audience to effect change and reach new heights? 



This program is perfect for:

​- anyone who wants to learn the art of writing compelling stories. Focus is on seeking, structure, and sharing. Breakout and 1/2 day workshops will include live performance. We’ll explore the narrative structure of a story, practice active listening, examine the importance of body language and dramatic techniques, and understand the power of narrativizing your research, work, and organizational goals and objectives.

ADVANCED JOURNALISTIC REPORTING AND WRITING FOR HEALTH AND SCIENCE JOURNALISM

Practical, collaborative, writing-intensive advanced journalistic reporting and writing course in the specific practices and standards of health and science journalism. Learn how to identify and write engaging stories about medicine, global health, science, and related environmental issues; how to assess the quality and relevance of science news; how to cover the health and science beats effectively and efficiently; and how to build bridges between the worlds of journalism and science.

Testimonials

The Impatient Dr. Lange is two things. It is first of all a thrilling history of the investigation of one of the greatest plagues in human history, written by a scientist who intimately understands the challenge that the HIV epidemic posed to humanity. It is also a eulogy for a great scientist, written by his younger protégé. These two strands combine for wonderful reading.
– Lawrence Wright - The New Yorker / Author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Booksby Dr. Seema Yasmin

The Impatient Dr. Lange

Muslim Women Are Everything

If God Is A Virus

Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall For Them

For Meeting Planners

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Blog Posts

 

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