Jayne O'Donnell
Founder and CEO
Jayne founded Youthcast Media Group® (YMG) - then known as Urban Health Media Project - in March 2017. She was USA TODAY’s health policy reporter from September 2013 to March 2021, when she took a buyout after more than 28 years with the company. An author, TV contributor and public speaker, Jayne has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, CNN, MSNBC, NPR and C-Span, written for Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping and Parents and spoken at health conferences including those sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, Leapfrog Group and the Business Roundtable. She covered the implementation of the Affordable Care Act starting in September 2013 and later shifted to focus on mental health, patient safety and health equity. Two of her articles led federal regulators to change course and release hospital safety data.
She has also won several awards for her work, most notably for her 1996 articles in USA TODAY on the dangers airbags posed to children. That reporting prompted government actions including the use of “smart" airbags and airbag warning labels in every new vehicle. Jayne’s 2018 University of Southern California (USC) Center for Health Journalism national fellowship led to a project on the health effects of domestic violence exposure on children. During her Association of Healthcare Journalists’ Health Care Performance fellowship, she covered the human cost of states’ Medicaid expansion decisions.
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She has a B.S. in journalism from University of Maryland and did graduate work at George Washington University’s School of Business.