DR. JOHN PENDYGRAFT was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, and worked at the Tampa Bay Times from 1997 to 2022. He is currently an assistant professor of visual journalism at Penn State University. Pendygraft has received national awards for feature writing, video and still photography from the American Society of News Editors, Society of Professional Journalists, Scripps Howard, National Headliner Awards, Pictures of the Year International and the Emmy awards. His documentary revealing escalating violence and neglect in Florida mental hospitals was included in the winning entry for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, won a regional Emmy and was a finalist for a national Emmy. His continuing mental health coverage has been awarded multiple regional Emmy awards. In 2017-2018, Pendygraft completed a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan and received a Ph.D. in applied anthropology at the University of South Florida. You may contact him at Johnpendygraft@gmail.com.