As described in our mission statement, we are devoted to covering and analyzing the most important (or entertaining) issues in the global health, aid and development arena. We are deadly serious about poverty, injustice and suffering. But not too serious. That’s deadly boring.
The site is based in Seattle and was launched in 2010 with support from National Public Radio largely because of the region’s leadership in global health, aid, development and the humanitarian sector – most notably, the world’s largest philanthropy, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
But this is not a local story; this is a frigging worldwide phenomenon. We’re stunned every day to learn of all the do-goodery out there. Humanosphere has, since tumbling out of the NPR nest and spreading its independent journalistic wings, expanded its coverage and reach simply to try to keep up. Nearly a third of Humanosphere’s daily audience is outside the U.S. Yes, there are lots to do still and plenty to criticize. We do the watchdog thing, as journalists. But we see real progress toward ending extreme poverty. That deserves daily coverage.
Humanosphere’s editorial team has grown substantially from the days when founder Tom Paulson ranted in isolation.
Our staff and contributors
- Tom Paulson, Founder. Prior to operating this online news site, he reported on science, medicine, health policy, aid and development for theSeattle Post-Intelligencer. Contact him at tom@humanosphere.org or follow him on Twitter @tompaulson.
- Tiffany Smith-Fleischman, Managing Editor. She keeps us somewhat manageable. Contact here at tiffany@humanosphere.org.
- Tom Murphy, Correspondent. A prolific writer and blogger on aid and development who keeps readers abreast of the leading issues in the humanitarian sector every day. Contact him at tmurphy@humanosphere.org and on Twitter at @viewfromthecave.
- Lisa Nikolau, Latin America Correspondent. She is a Madrid-based journalist covering gender equality, indigenous rights and human rights in the Americas and elsewhere. You can contact her at lisa.nikolau@humanosphere.org.
- Imana Gunawan, podcast producer and social media manager. She can be reached at imana@humanosphere.org.
- Charlie Ensor, freelance contributor. He is Nairobi-based and you can contact him at charlieensor1990@googlemail.com or follow him on Twitter @charlieensor.
- Katie Leach-Kemon, contributor. She is a policy translation specialist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). You can follow her on Twitter @kleachkemon.
We have many other regular contributors, some based in the developing world, who give readers a perspective on the world they cannot find anywhere else.
Our board of directors
- Bill Foege, the man who beat smallpox, former head of the CDC and one of the original architects of the Gates Foundation’s global health mission
- Andrew Haring, Seattle attorney active in humanitarian causes and general counsel for Talking Rain, formerly counsel to ultrasound manufacturer Sonosite
- King Holmes, world-renowned infectious disease expert and former head of global health at the University of Washington
- Elizabeth Scallon, associate director of CoMotion Labs at the UW.
- Jim Simon, managing editor at the Seattle Times and one of the most thoughtful journalists I know
- Kentaro Toyama, co-founding director of Microsoft Research India, W.K. Kellogg Chair at the University of Michigan School of Information, fellow at the MIT Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values … and Humanosphere’s leading geek heretic
- Eric Walker, board chair, president of Eric G. Walker and Associates, a top consulting firm to many international NGOs and former VP for corporate services (aka CFO) at PATH
Other partners include Hans Bjordahl and his team at Culture Foundry, a website design-and-management powerhouse with a track record of delivering transformational change. They do media disruption.
Together, we want to expand and improve the media narrative on poverty and inequity through disruptive insight, analysis, irreverence, outrage or humor. Whatever it takes.
Please join us and enter the Humanosphere!