Judges

Our 2024 judge information will be coming soon. Stay tuned!

International Safety Media Awards judges are selected for their expertise and knowledge in: Media Production, Strategic Communication, Application of Behavior Change Theory, and Evaluation of Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Initiatives.

 View our previous judges from 2022 below.

Simon Pase

Australia

Simon has worked as a video producer at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne Australia for the last 12 years, with a professional background in television production and advertising.

At the Royal Children’s Hospital he is committed to the health outcomes of children and young people. Children’s is a statewide paediatric trauma centre.

Simon works alongside medical, nursing, allied health and research colleagues giving him direct insight into the challenges faced in the injury prevention sphere and the effects of trauma in children and families.

Simon brings creativity and imagination to help promote a greater understanding of injury prevention.

Zahra Zare

Iran

Zahra Zare lives in Tehran, province of Iran. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Public Health at Tehran University of medical sciences and Master degree in epidemiology from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Zahra was a health trainer at Raad Rehabilitation Goodwill Complex (Raad Charity). Raad Charity is an educational institute for physical handicapped individuals. She trained on health issues to promote their health.

Zahra is interested in subjects about prevention of diseases, injuries and also psychological problems due to them.

Ajmal Khan Khoso

Pakistan

Ajmal Khan Khoso is Senior Superintendent of Police serving in National Highways & Motorway Police of Pakistan. He is also a prestigious Law Enforcement Agency and a core road safety stakeholder. Mr.Khoso has multidimensional educational background with degrees in Engineering, Policing, Law, Safety Promotion, and Public Health.

Ajmal he has multifaceted 15 years professional experience in traffic safety, community policing and Gender Based Violence. He has served in United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur Sudan. Mr. Khoso has authored a number of research papers published in peer reviewed journal.   Ajmal Khoso is multilingual with proficiency in Sindhi, Baluchi, Urdu,Punjabi, Hindi and English languages.

Dr. Álvaro Valdivia Pareja

Peru

 Álvaro is a clinical psychologist and suicide doctor, creator of transcendent relational psychotherapy for suicide risk and grieving for suicide. In addition, he is a qualitative researcher and university professor. He has published two books on Suicidology and research on that subject.

Álvaro is the founder and director of SENTIDO – Peruvian Center for Suicide and Suicide Prevention. 

In his field, self-harm and suicide attempts need to be addressed as most of the times, these behaviors are highly destructive and include others (firefighters, etc) that may be at risk of getting injured as well. In this sense, these awards allow us to educate the population on the importance of prevention and allow us to normalize themes that are usually stigmatized.

Dr. David Sleet

USA

David Sleet, PhD, is the former Associate Director for Science for the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at the National Center for Injury Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, he taught and conducted research in public health at San Diego State University, directed the Road Accident Research Unit at University of Western Australia, and spent 4 years as research scientist with the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

He has published extensively and is on the editorial boards of seven scientific journals. Dr. Sleet is a Fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior, and received the Fries Foundation Prize for Health Education in 2015.

Dr. Sleet sees the Media awards as an opportunity to expose the injury world to innovative approaches — to increase awareness, motivate intentions, and to educate. 

Dr. Andres Villaveces Izquierdo

USA/Colombia

Andrés Villaveces M.D., Ph.D., A physician and epidemiologist with over 25 years of experience researching injuries and violence prevention. He works at CDC as Senior Scientist, at the Field Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, Division of Violence Prevention, where he has coordinated the Violence Against Children Surveys in Latin America.

He earned a medical degree at the Universidad del Bosque in Bogotá, Colombia (1991), an MPH from Emory University (1996), and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Washington, Seattle (2000). He has worked at the World Bank, RAND Corporation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Geneva Cantonal Hospital, and WHO.

His work has included the evaluation of policies aimed at controlling concealed carrying of firearms, the effect of alcohol restrictions on the incidence of homicide and built environment and injuries. He has several co-authored book chapters and manuscripts. He speaks Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese

Dr. Paul Bolls

USA

Paul Bolls, PhD, is a Professor and Director of Media Minds Insights, a Neuromarketing research group in the Center for Communication Research at the Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication.

Paul has over 20 years of experience conducting psychophysiological research and co-authored the first book exclusively dedicated to the application of psychophysiology in media research.

Paul has published in the top media psychology journals and works as an industry Neuromarketing consultant. He has worked for a range of international clients but is primarily interested in applying Neuromarketing to the design of more effective public health campaigns. He earned his PhD. at Indiana University, holds an MA degree from Washington State University and a BA from Montana State University. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Bolls worked on-air in commercial radio.

Dr. Koustov Dalal

Sweden

Professor Koustuv Dalal is a well-known expert in the field of injury prevention and safety promotion. Injury economics is his specialty. He has received the ‘International Safe Community Distinguished Career Award’ for outstanding leadership and dedication in injury prevention and safety promotion,  Nov 2017. He has been working in the field for more than 20 years. He was the Director for Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Örebro, Sweden for several years.

He has supervised 16 Ph.D. students and more than 50 Master students in the field. He has students and workshop- participants from 92 countries. Professor Dalal has visited 52 countries for research and evaluation. He has evaluated more than 500 injury prevention and safety promotion programs/ projects and provided evidence-based policy advocacy.

Injury costs a big percentage of the national health and economic budget. As a health economist Professor Dalal is passionate about community-based participatory research and evidence-based interventions for reducing the burden of injuries, promoting safety and save the resources. He is the senior advisor of the International Safe Community movement.

 ‘The International Safety Media Awards’ has been playing a pivotal role in the decades. We are looking forward to see your active participation in the movement and submission of your project to us.

Dr. Ian Pike

canada

With over 30 years of experience in injury prevention and healthy lifestyle promotion, Dr. Ian Pike is dedicated to establishing a society free from preventable injuries. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his roles as Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada; Director, BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit; Investigator, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute; and Co-Executive Director and Spokesperson, The Community Against Preventable Injuries (Preventable). 

Dr. Pike has been an invited speaker and expert participant at numerous health, wellness, and injury prevention conferences and meetings. He is published in both academic and professional journals, and has collaborated with leading experts in injury prevention in Canada and internationally, including Japan, Australia, and Lebanon. Dr. Pike has been recognized as an expert in injury prevention and social marketing, and has conducted over 100 interviews with local, national, and international news outlets on topics including drowning prevention, fire safety, road safety, work-related injury, unintentional poisoning, and fall prevention. He is the recipient of the 2017 UBC President’s Award for Public Education Through Media, and the Canadian Fire Chiefs of Canada 2019 Fire Researcher of the Year.