People

Robert Cribb, Founder & Director

Robert Cribb is founder and director of the Investigative Journalism Bureau and an investigative reporter at the Toronto Star. He has received national and international reporting awards for investigations into offshore tax evasion, child exploitation, human trafficking, dangerous doctors, environmental threats and public safety. He was part of the international reporting team that produced the Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers investigation in 2017. Cribb is founder of the National Student Investigative Reporting Network, past president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, the first international board member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, current president of Canadian journalism charity Veritas – Advancing Journalism in the Public Interest and is co-author of Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide (Oxford University Press). Cribb is recipient of both the Massey Journalism Fellowship and the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy Reporting. He teaches investigative reporting at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism and the University of Toronto. robert.cribb@utoronto.ca

Robert Steiner, Assistant Professor and Director of the Dalla Lana Fellowship in Journalism and Health Impact

Robert Steiner began his career as a global finance correspondent for The Wall Street Journal with postings in New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo, where he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won two Overseas Press Club awards and the Inter-American Press Association Award. After leaving The Wall Street Journal, Steiner received his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and then worked as a business strategy executive, first at The Boston Consulting Group and later as Group Vice President in charge of Strategic Planning for Bell Globemedia, parent of the Globe and Mail and CTV. From 2006 to 2010, Mr. Steiner served as Assistant Vice President of the University of Toronto in charge of Strategic Communications. He lives in Toronto with his wife, daughter and son.

Denise Haggerty, Journalism Administrative Assistant

Denise Haggerty is the Journalism Administrative Assistant for the Fellowship in Journalism and Health Impact program at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Denise has fulfilled this administrative role since the fall of 2018. Prior to joining U of T, Denise worked at the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes and CBC Radio-Canada.

Max Binks-Collier, Reporter

Wendy-Ann Clarke, Reporter

Wendy-Ann Clarke is an award-winning multimedia journalist with a passion for exploring the ways in which history, culture, sociology, psychology, and other disciplines intersect to bring greater understanding to the news stories of today. Prior to joining the IJB, she worked at the Catholic Register newspaper, where she reported on a range of important issues and received several honours. With a background in track and field as an athlete and a coach, Clarke has covered a wide range of sporting disciplines and reported on athletics during the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for CBC Sports. She also has bylines with Yahoo Sports and the Toronto Star Sports. wendyannclarkeijb@gmail.com

Masih Khalatbari, Reporter

Masih K is a graduate of the TMU School of Journalism where he was a Teacher’s Assistant for the Investigative Journalism and Radio and Podcasting courses. Starting out as an intern at the Investigative Journalism Bureau, he was a videographer for Mum’s the Word – an award-winning interactive documentary on the forced adoption mandate in Canada – a crime reporter for Radio Regent and Executive Podcast Producer for On The Record. He was also a senior reporter at Investigative Chronicles, a publication dedicated to chronicling the 1987 murder of a high school freshman. masih.khalatbari@gmail.com

Ryan McMahon, Indigenous Affairs Reporter

For nearly two decades, Ryan McMahon has been a trailblazer in Indigenous comedy, podcasting, and storytelling. An independent creative known for forward-looking, bold and irreverent storytelling, he’s an award-winning writer, an acclaimed journalist, a highly sought-after keynote speaker, and one of the best Indigenous comedians working today. Most recently, McMahon’s docuseries, Thunder Bay (CRAVE TV, 2023), was nominated for three 2024 Canadian Screen Awards including Best Factual Series, Best Direction – Factual, and Best Writing – Factual. Ryan is a proud dad to Ella, Jane, Sam, and Thomas. He lives in Hamilton, ON with his partner Madeline and children. ryan.mcmahon@utoronto.ca

Emma Jarratt, Contributing Reporter

Emma Jarratt is an investigative multimedia journalist in Toronto. She holds a Master of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University. Emma is the Executive Editor of Electric Autonomy Canada and previously freelanced in print and broadcast, specifically concentrating on investigations, the green energy and transportation sectors, conflicts and politics. Her work has appeared in The Globe & Mail, VICE and on CTV’s Canada AM, CTVNews.com and W5. Her work will (hopefully) continue to appear in the Toronto Star. Emma can be reached at emmacrjarratt@gmail.com.

Lance Roller, DLSPH Journalism and Health Impact Fellow

Lance Roller is a researcher, data analyst and Dalla Lana School of Public Health Journalism and Health Impact fellow. Throughout his career, he has co-written numerous publications in academic journals that include The Lancet and the BMJ. His proficiency in analytics allows him to skillfully handle databases for investigator and industry-led projects, using Python, SQL and Tableau. Through his analytical expertise and tech savvy, Lance is poised to make an impact in investigative journalism.

Rhythm Sachdeva, DLSPH Journalism and Health Impact Fellow

Rhythm Sachdeva is a Toronto-based immigration reporter and Dalla Lana School of Public Health Journalism and Health Impact fellow. She has reported for several prominent organizations, including The Canadian Press, the Toronto Star, CTV News, and the Times of India, delivering standout A1 features and impactful and data-driven stories for national audiences.  rhythm.sachdeva@mail.utoronto.ca 

Neil Seeman, Senior Academic Advisor

Founder and Chairman of Riwi Corp., and Senior Fellow at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.

Blair Bigham, Scientific Consultant and Reporter

Blair is an award-winning journalist, scientist and physician who trained in emergency and critical care medicine at McMaster and Stanford Universities. He was a Global Journalism Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs,  Associate Scientist at St Michael’s Hospital, and Education Scholar at Stanford. His work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, newscasts, podcasts and medical journals. He is co-host of the CMAJ Podcast and director of education and scholarship at healthydebate.ca.

He witnesses the relationship between wealth and health on a daily basis, and reports on the undertold stories of patients, healthcare providers, and the systems that help or fail them.