Dr. Lara Salahi - Outbreak Culture

Lara Salahi is an award-winning multimedia journalist and author, and assistant professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Endicott College.  Lara has worked in local news, network and cable television, international print, and documentary film, and her work has been published and broadcast on numerous news outlets.  She field produces stories in the New England region for ABC News shows including Good Morning America and World News with David Muir. She previously worked with ABC News' Medical Unit in New York, where she produced digital and on-air health stories.

Her book, Outbreak Culture, examines each phase of the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic -- the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak to date -- and identifies the factors that complicated the response to the crisis. Through original research, critical interviews and shoe leather reporting, the book exposes a fractured system of global outbreak response and lays out guiding principles to shift the culture among international responders.

Lara was part of the team at the Boston Globe and its news site Boston.com awarded the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for exhaustive and empathetic breaking news coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the ensuing manhunt. Lara is the founder of Salahi Media, a multi-platform media production company dedicated to sharing stories on public health, science and medicine, through diverse experiences and compelling narratives.  She received a dual undergraduate degree from Boston University in Broadcast Journalism and International Relations with a concentration in Middle East and North African foreign policy and security studies, along with a minor in French. She has a master's degree in Health Communication from Emerson College and a doctorate in Education from Regis College with a concentration in teaching and learning. Lara travels extensively and is fluent in Armenian, Arabic, and French. She began her career as an on-air reporter.