Neal Baer is an award-winning television writer, pediatrician, and public health advocate and expert. He has served as the showrunner for the past twenty years on Designated Survivor, Under the Dome, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and ER. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Neal has been recognized for his efforts to increase understanding of medicine in the media. He has academic appointments at Harvard Medical School and the Yale School of Public Health. He co-established the Institute for Photographic Empowerment at USC, building on his work in South Africa and Mozambique teaching filmmaking and photography to mothers living with HIV and to orphans whose parents died of AIDS, empowering them to show the world through the lens of their own lives. Recently, he executive produced the documentary, Welcome To Chechnya (HBO), which won awards at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival, and was on the Oscars short list for best documentary and best visual effects in 2021.