Chief Executive, IRISi

Medina Johnson is Chief Executive of IRISi, a social enterprise established to promote and improve the health care response to gender based violence. IRISi’s flagship intervention, IRIS (Identification and Referral to Improve Safety), is a general practice-based domestic violence and abuse training, support and referral programme.

Medina’s background is in education and training and she has worked as a secondary school teacher, regional trainer for a large national charity, managed a project for single homeless people, and managed a resettlement service for women in housing need with mental health problems. She has worked in the domestic violence and abuse sector for 14 years. Since 2007 Medina has worked on IRIS and she was one of the original two IRIS Advocate Educators before becoming one of the National Implementation Managers for the project in 2010. She holds an honorary contract with Bristol University and is a collaborator on a number of research projects including the European RESPONSE project, HERA and ReProvide.
Outside work, she is chair of a small charity supporting a children’s home in Kenya and visits her African family each year. She is also a trustee of Women’s Adventure Expo, a pioneering social enterprise celebrating, inspiring and empowering women in adventure and exploration.
Medina lives in Monmouthshire and enjoys spending time in the garden with her hens and bees.