KQED Science StaffKQED Science Staff
April Dembosky
KQED Health Correspondent
April Dembosky is the health correspondent for KQED News and a regular contributor to NPR. She specializes in covering altered states of mind, from postpartum depression to methamphetamine-induced psychosis to the insanity defense. Her investigative series on insurance companies sidestepping mental health laws won multiple awards, including first place in beat reporting from the national Association of Health Care Journalists. She is the recipient of numerous other prizes and fellowships, including a national Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting, a Society of Professional Journalists award for long-form storytelling, and a Carter Center Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. Dembosky reported and produced Soundtrack of Silence, an audio documentary about music and memory that is currently being made into a feature film by Paramount Pictures. Before joining KQED in 2013, Dembosky covered technology and Silicon Valley for The Financial Times of London, and contributed business and arts stories to Marketplace and The New York Times. She got her undergraduate degree in philosophy from Smith College and her master's in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a classically trained violinist and proud alum of the first symphony orchestra at Burning Man.
Craig Miller
Editor Emeritus, Science
Craig is a former KQED Science editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues, with a little seismology thrown in just to shake things up. Prior to that, he launched and led the station's award-winning multimedia project, Climate Watch. Craig is also an accomplished writer/producer of television documentaries, with a focus on natural resource issues.
Dan Brekke
KQED Editor and Reporter
Dan Brekke is a reporter and editor for KQED News, responsible for coverage of topics ranging from California water issues to the Bay Area's transportation challenges. In a newsroom career that began in Chicago in 1972, Dan has worked for The San Francisco Examiner, Wired and TechTV and has been published in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Business 2.0, Salon and elsewhere. Since joining KQED in 2007, Dan has reported, edited and produced both radio and online features and breaking news pieces. He has shared as both editor and reporter in four Society of Professional Journalists Norcal Excellence in Journalism awards and one Edward R. Murrow regional award. He was chosen for a spring 2017 residency at the Mesa Refuge to advance his research on California salmon. Email Dan at: dbrekke@kqed.org Twitter: twitter.com/danbrekke Facebook: www.facebook.com/danbrekke LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/danbrekke
Danielle Venton
Science reporter
Danielle Venton is a reporter for KQED Science. She covers wildfires, space and oceans (though she is prone to sea sickness). Before joining KQED in 2015, Danielle was a staff reporter at KRCB in Sonoma County and a freelancer. She studied science communication at UC Santa Cruz and formerly worked at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland where she wrote about computing. She lives in Sonoma County and enjoys backpacking.
Ezra David Romero
Climate Reporter
Ezra David Romero is a climate reporter for KQED News. He covers the absence and excess of water in the Bay Area — think sea level rise, flooding and drought. For nearly a decade he’s covered how warming temperatures are altering the lives of Californians. He’s reported on farmers worried their pistachio trees aren’t getting enough sleep, families desperate for water, scientists studying dying giant sequoias, and alongside firefighters containing wildfires. His work has appeared on local stations across California and nationally on public radio shows like Morning Edition, Here and Now, All Things Considered and Science Friday.
Gabriela Quirós
Supervising Producer
Gabriela Quirós is the supervising producer for KQED's web science video series Deep Look. She joined KQED as a TV producer when its science series QUEST started in 2006 and has covered everything from Alzheimer’s to bee die-offs to dark energy. She won a 2022 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award with a team of her Deep Look colleagues. She has won six regional Emmys as a video producer and has shared eight more as the coordinating producer of Deep Look. The episode she produced about How Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood won a Webby "People's Voice" award. She has also earned awards from the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Her videos for KQED have also aired on NOVA scienceNOW and the PBS NewsHour, and appeared on NPR.org. As an independent filmmaker, she produced and directed the hour-long documentary Beautiful Sin, about the surprising story of how Costa Rica became the only country in the world to outlaw in vitro fertilization. The film aired in 2015 on public television stations throughout the U.S., and in Costa Rica. She started her journalism career as a newspaper reporter in Costa Rica, where she grew up. She won the National Science Journalism Award there for a series of articles about organic agriculture, and developed a life-long interest in health reporting. She moved to the Bay Area in 1996 to study documentary filmmaking at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received master’s degrees in journalism and Latin American studies.
Jasmine Garnett
Audience Engagement Associate
Jasmine is KQED Science's Associate Engagement Producer. She is also a freelance writer, with work appearing in KQED, Bitch Media, and Kotaku among others. Jasmine graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Media Studies, where she was also an Arts and Entertainment reporter at the Daily Californian.
Jenny Oh
Audience Engagement Producer, Deep Look
Jenny is an Emmy Award-winning producer and is currently the Audience Engagement Producer for KQED Science's Deep Look online video series. She was also a long-time contributor to Bay Area Bites, KQED's popular food blog. Jenny graduated with honors from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Film and Television program and has worked for WNET/PBS, The Learning Channel, Sundance Channel, HBO and the University of California.
Jon Brooks
Digital Editor
Jon Brooks is a former Digital Editor for KQED Science. He is the former editor of KQED’s daily news blog, News Fix. In 2014, he won a California Journalism Award for his coverage of ride services like Uber and Lyft and the taxi industry. A veteran blogger, he previously worked for Yahoo! in various news writing and editing roles. Jon is also a playwright whose work has been produced in San Francisco, New York, Italy, and around the U.S. He has written about film for his own blog and studied film at Boston University.
Josh Cassidy
Digital Video Producer
Josh is a Senior Video Producer for KQED Science, and the Lead Producer and Cinematographer for Deep Look. After receiving his BS in Wildlife Biology from Ohio University, he went on to participate in marine mammal research for NOAA, USGS and the Intersea Foundation. He also served as the president of The Pacific Cetacean Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching students K-6 about whales. Josh studied science and natural history filmmaking at San Francisco State University and Montana State University.
Katie DeBenedetti
KQED Contributor
Katie DeBenedetti is a digital reporter covering daily news for the Express Desk. Prior to joining KQED as a culture reporting intern in January 2024, she covered education and city government for the Napa Valley Register.
Katrin Snow
Senior Editor
Kat started in radio in 1985 at KMUN in Astoria, Oregon, where the Columbia River meets the sea. She worked several years protecting monarch butterfly habitat in California with the Xerces Society, an invertebrate conservation organization, before a love for radio news drew her back into journalism. Kat came to KQED in 2002, and before that was a reporter and news director at KUER in Salt Lake City, covering the state legislature, the environment and health. Kat coaches reporters and others in embodied narration and public speaking. She is a certified teacher of Soul Motion®, a conscious dance practice, and can sometimes be found in the Mojave desert or the Eastern Sierra.
Kevin Stark
Senior Editor
Kevin is a senior editor for KQED Science, managing the station's health and climate desks. His journalism career began in the Pacific Northwest, and he later became a lead reporter for the San Francisco Public Press. His work has appeared in Pacific Standard magazine, the Energy News Network, the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal and WBEZ in Chicago. Kevin joined KQED in 2019, and has covered issues related to energy, wildfire, climate change and the environment.
Laura Klivans
Reporter and Host
Laura Klivans is a science reporter and the host of KQED's video series about tiny, amazing animals, Deep Look. Her work can also be heard on NPR, Here & Now, and PRI. Before working in audio, she taught, leading groups of students abroad. One of her favorite jobs was teaching on the Thai-Burmese border, working with immigrants and refugees. Laura has won three Northern California Area Emmys along with her Deep Look colleagues. She's won the North Gate Award for Excellence in Audio Reporting and the Gobind Behari Lal Award for a radio documentary about adults with imaginary friends. She's a fellowship junkie, completing the USC Center for Health Journalism's California Fellowship, UC Berkeley's Human Rights Fellowship and the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. Laura has a master’s in journalism from UC Berkeley and a master’s in education from Harvard. She likes to eat chocolate for breakfast. She's also open to eating it all day long.
Lesley McClurg
KQED Health Correspondent
Lesley McClurg is a health correspondent and fill-in host. Her work is regularly rebroadcast on numerous NPR and PBS shows. She has won several regional Emmy awards, a regional and a national Edward R. Murrow award. The Association for Health Journalists awarded Lesley best beat coverage. The Society of Professional Journalists has recognized her reporting several times. The Society of Environmental Journalists spotlighted her ongoing coverage of California's historic drought. Before joining KQED in 2016, she covered food and sustainability for Capital Public Radio, the environment for Colorado Public Radio, and reported for both KUOW and KCTS9 in Seattle. When not hunched over her laptop Lesley enjoys skiing with her daughter, cycling with her partner or scheming their next globetrotting adventure. Before motherhood she relished dancing tango till sunrise. When on deadline she fuels herself almost exclusively on chocolate chips.
Mike Seely
Producer
Mike is a Digital Media Producer for KQED Science and Post Production Coordinator for Deep Look. Prior to his work at KQED, he worked independently for 15 years as a director, producer and cinematographer of documentary films about art, science, and social issues, collaborating with independent directors, corporate clients, non-profits, digital and broadcast networks. Previous to filmmaking life, he majored in biology as an undergrad at Oberlin College, and worked as a wildlife biologist on bird and seal population studies in California. He also holds an M.A. in Documentary Film Production from Stanford University.
Paul Rogers
Managing Editor, Science
Paul worked as managing editor for the KQED Science team from 2005 to 2020. Paul also works as the Natural Resources & Environment Writer at the San Jose Mercury News, where he has covered climate change, oceans, air pollution, energy, water policy, endangered species, toxics, parks and other issues. Paul was part of the Mercury News team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Paul also has taught environmental journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and at the UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program. From 2001 to 2010, he served as chairman of the Institutes of Journalism and Natural Resources, a nonprofit group that provides training to reporters of all backgrounds to improve environmental and science journalism.
Peter Arcuni
Reporter
Peter reports radio and online stories for KQED Science. His work has also appeared on the The California Report morning show and KQED News. His production credits include The California Report, The California Report Magazine and KQED's local news podcast The Bay. Other credits include NPR's All Things Considered, WNYC's Science Friday, WBUR's Here & Now, WIRED and SFGate. Peter graduated from Brown University and earned a master's degree in journalism from Stanford. He's covered everything from homelessness to wildfires, health, the environment, arts and Thanksgiving in San Quentin prison. In other lives, he played rock n roll music and studied neuroscience. You can email him at: parcuni@kqed.org
Polly Stryker
Editor
Polly Stryker is a former editor for KQED's Science desk. She and reporter/host Rachael Myrow produced the KQED podcast, Love in the Digital Age. Polly has worked for a variety of news and public affairs programs, including most recently as editor of The California Report. She also edited The California Report's “Health Dialogues.” Before that, she was a producer on AirTalk with Larry Mantle on KPCC radio, and These Days on KPBS. Polly’s work has won awards from the Radio and Television News Directors Association of Northern California, the Society of Professional Journalists (Southern California and Northern California chapters), the Radio and Television News Association. She's also won a Taste Award. She considers herself to be a citizen of the world, having grown up in Cairo before coming to the United States. Polly speaks Arabic and can say, "I’d like a martini, please" in Swahili.
Rosa Tuirán
Digital Video Producer
Rosa Tuirán is a PBS Accelerator Fellow for Diverse Voices and a video producer for KQED's web science video series, Deep Look. Originally from Mexico City, she studied International Relations for her B.A. After graduating, she pursued her passion for underwater photography in South Africa and later worked as a video journalist for BuzzFeed News in New York City. In 2020, she received her Master of Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley with a focus on documentary filmmaking. During the pandemic's early stages, she was a part of the COVID-19 California reporting initiative with The New York Times and the Investigative Reporting Program. Her work has been featured on PBS Frontline, PBS NOVA, CBS News, National Geographic, The Guardian and The New York Times.
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