Allan Richards is associate dean and associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at Florida International University. As a journalist, he covered issues related to the environment and health, scripting more than a dozen medical science documentaries that have aired on The Discovery Channel and PBS. As a 2009 Kaiser Fellow on Global Health Reporting, Richards produced the documentary "Lessons from South Africa," which reported on the South African media's powerful and creative response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The documentary was screened at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, has aired on WPBT2 and continues to be used in classrooms as a teaching resource. Richards was one of the founders of the SJMC South Florida News Service with the editors of The Miami Herald, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post in 2009. He serves as a judge for the annual Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards.