Ina Jaffe

Ina Jaffe is a national desk correspondent based at NPR West, NPR's production center in Culver City, CA. Covering California and the West, Jaffe has reported on nearly all of the major news events, elections and natural disasters in the region. Currently, she covers issues related to aging, which includes finances and work life, healthcare, relationships and the broader demographic realities facing the country. She also reports on regional and national politics, contributing election coverage in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

In addition to captivating and informing listeners, Jaffe's reports have garnered critical acclaim. Her 2012 investigation into how the West Los Angeles VA made millions from renting property while ignoring plans to house homeless veterans won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists as well as a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media. A few months after the story aired, the West Los Angeles VA broke ground on supportive housing for homeless vets.

Jaffe's 2011 series on rising violence in California State Psychiatric Hospitals was also honored with a Gracie Award as well as awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the American Bar Association. Her three-part series on California's Three Strikes sentencing law won the ABA's Silver Gavel Award in 2010, as well as the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, which made its debut in 1985. Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and DePaul University, receiving Bachelor's and Master's degrees in philosophy, respectively. In her speeches, Ina Jaffe addresses the major issues important to aging Americans.