Luisa Ortiz Pérez
Leads MDrnet.org. She is the Executive Director of Vita-Activa.Org, a helpline for online violence and trauma. A creative strategist with over 20 years of experience in mental health, digital rights, and care in media. Author of “A Human Condition, a play about journalism” and a 2023 Journalism JSK Fellow at Stanford University.
Dagmar Thiel
Dagmar Thiel is a journalist and press freedom advocate. She has led media sustainability for organizations in authoritarian regimes and developed support systems for exiles. At MDRnet, she is responsible for fostering Communities of Practice and Capacity Building. Dagmar is an RJI fellow (2020).
Ana Arriagada
Ana Arriagada is a journalist with 25+ years in digital media. She leads Product & Implementation at MDRnet and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council (DFRLab). Executive Program alum (2021), CUNY Newmark J-School. Co-founder of ElSoberano.org.
Joe Ruiz
Joe Ruiz, Communications Journalist, newsroom leader, and advocate for both mental health and increased diversity in newsrooms. He owns Banderita Media where he works as a journalism and communications consultant, and JSK Fellow at Stanford University 2025.
Gisel Sánchez
Gisel Sánchez, has a Social Communication degree from UNSJ (Argentina) where she has been an assistant professor since 2015. She intertwines her human rights activism with creativity to envision alternative possible futures. Focused on digital rights, women, and diversities, she crafts precise, accessible narratives through digital marketing, social media, and scientific illustration.
Counselors and Coaches
César Montesano
Head of Therapeutic Support at MDRnet. Humanistic Counselor and Gestalt Psychotherapist with a specialty in crisis intervention and post-traumatic stress, therapeutic groups, somatization and symptoms, and various specialties in the theory of Gestalt Psychotherapy.
