Doctor Ellen Wartella 
Dr. Wartella earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota in 1977 and completed her postdoctoral research in development psychology in 1981 at the University of Kansas.
Dr. Wartella is a leading scholar of the role of media in children’s development. She was a co-principal Investigator on the National TV Violence Study (1995-1998) and is currently co-principal investigator of the Children’s Digital Media Center project funded by the National Science Foundation (2001-2006). She serves on the Kraft Food Global Health and Wellness Advisory Council, the Decade of Behavior National Advisory, the Board of Trustees of the Sesame Workshop, and the National Educational Advisory Board of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit of the Better Business Bureaus.
Dr. Wartella is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Children Youth and Families and recently served on the Institute of Medicine’s Panel Study on Food Marketing and the Diets of Children and Youth (2006). She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Research in Child Development and is the past President of the International Communication Association.
