Physicians for Human Rights
Using science and medicine to stop human rights violationsExperts
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Joanne Ahola, MD
In 1999, I read an article by a psychiatrist who described having found deeply rewarding volunteer work as a member of the Asylum Network. He spoke of the flexibility there was to do as little or as much as his time allowed, and how he could volunteer right in his office. ... I signed up that evening. Learn More »
Abdulrazzaq al-Saiedi
Prior to joining PHR, Razzaq served as a Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, studying the impact of the Iraqi elections on the political and democratic processes in Iraq. Learn More »
Scott Allen, MD
Instrumental in PHR's work in stopping torture, Scott was lead author on "Aiding Torture" and "Experiments in Torture", two of PHR's seminal publications. He began his work in health and human rights at the age of 17 in Cambodian refugee camps. Learn More »
Marion Brown, DO
I have been a member of the Asylum Network since 2001 and have seen more than 18 clients, all but one of whom have received asylum status. It took just one interaction with an asylum seeker, a woman from Senegal who was held captive as a sex slave, to make me want to work with people seeking asylum. Learn More »
Robert Bux, MD
Dr. Bux has participated in many international human rights investigations for PHR's IFP. His work for international courts includes the exhumation of mass graves in Yugoslavia for the UN International War Crimes Tribunal, and providing written reports for the Special Prosecutor for the International War Crimes Court in Sierra Leone. Learn More »
Sondra Crosby, MD
Dr. Crosby’s clinical practice focuses on care of asylum seekers, asylees, and refugees, and she has written over 200 affidavits documenting medical and psychological sequelae of torture. Learn More »
Bill Davis, MA, MPH
Bill believes that human rights are, as Jonathan Mann said, “the conscience of public health.” Having witnessed the results of bad conscience on three continents, Bill feels that human rights should be at the forefront of developing and assessing state policies. Learn More »
Mohammed Ahmed Eisa, MD
Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Eisa, a physician and professor of Medicine at el-Fasher University in Darfur, specializes in working with victims of torture and sexual violence. Learn More »
Christy Fujio, JD
Christy has worked in private practice as an immigration attorney and volunteered at the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project, and as Chief of Staff at Hunt Alternatives prior to joining PHR. Learn More »
Lynne Gaby, MD
I have met some remarkable individuals as a volunteer for PHR - people who have lived through unimaginable horrors, yet retain a dignity and resilience that is deeply inspiring. I feel immensely gratified to know that the evaluations I have provided can make a difference in terms of a judge's decision to grant asylum. Learn More »
William D. Haglund, PhD
Former Director of the International Forensic Program, Dr. Haglund serves as Senior Forensic Consultant to the IFP. His work with the United Nations and PHR have included investigation of human rights abuses, crimes against humanity and genocide. Learn More »
Kristine Huskey, JD
Kristine is responsible for leading PHR’s investigations and reporting on the devastating consequences of torture on individuals, institutions, and society. Learn More »
Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD
In over 18 years with PHR, Dr. Iacopino has conducted medical fact-finding investigations all over the world and documented a wide range of human rights violations. One of the pioneers in conceptualizing the relationship between health and human rights, he has authored 80 health and human rights publications. Learn More »
Allen Keller, MD
Co-author of PHR’s ground-breaking report, Broken Laws, Broken Lives, Allen is internationally recognized as an expert in treatment and evaluation of torture. He is the Director of the NYU Center for Health and Human Rights. Learn More »
Coleen Kivlahan MD, MSPH
Dr. Kivlahan is a long-time family medicine practitioner, and an Asylum Network volunteer and trainer. She also provides child sexual and physical abuse evaluations, and rape evaluations for women of all ages. Learn More »
Kenneth S. Kosik, MD
An Asylum Network member for nearly two decades, Dr. Kosik has lectured on issues related to asylum, performed evaluations, and trained others to conduct asylum evaluations. Learn More »
Stuart Lustig, MD, MPH
I was initially prompted to begin volunteering for the Asylum Network because my father lost several family members in the Holocaust. In the same way that we enjoy those rights [such as freedom of speech] because of the efforts and sacrifices of our predecessors, I believe we have an ethical obligation to advocate for those who are less fortunate than we are. Learn More »
Stephen McElroy, MD, MPH
An emergency department physician and Clinical Assistant Professor, Dr. McElroy has been a member of PHR's Asylum Network since 2004 and regularly evaluates asylum seekers. Learn More »
Karen Naimer
Karen brings to PHR over 10 years of extensive experience in international criminal law, international humanitarian law, human rights, national security, and anti-corruption. Learn More »
Nery Suyapa Osorio, LCJS, MA
Ms. Osorio received her law degree from the Law School at the Autonomous National University of Honduras in 2001 and her Master's Degree in International Criminal Law at the University of Granada, Spain. She has consulted for the IFP since 1996. Learn More »
Parveen Parmar, MD, MPH
Dr. Parmar currently serves as clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine. She worked with PHR on Burmese Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Learn More »
Nizam Peerwani, MD
A Chief Medical Examiner in Texas since 1979, Dr. Peerwani was one of two investigators for PHR of attacks on health professionals and their patients in Bahrain in 2011. Learn More »
Steven Reisner, PhD
Dr. Reisner has worked tirelessly to amend policies of the American Psychological Association that support psychologists’ participation in unethical military and intelligence interrogations in places such as Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and the CIA ‘black sites’. Learn More »
Katalin Roth, JD, MD
My commitment to human rights goes way back to college activism (civil rights, anti-Vietnam and anti-poverty). I came to medicine after a brief career as a lawyer and law teacher, and so issues of justice and human rights have concerned me throughout my career. Learn More »
Stefan Schmitt
Stefan's background is in forensic anthropology and crime scene analysis. He is the author of a leading publication providing a working definition for mass graves. He has lived in Guatemala, where he founded the country’s first forensic anthropology team in 1992. Learn More »
Susannah Sirkin, M.Ed.
Susannah has been with PHR since shortly after its founding in 1987; she has organized health and human rights investigations to dozens of countries and been expert editor and author for many of PHR's reports and papers. She currently is heading up PHR's work against sexual violence and rape as weapons of war. Learn More »
Stephen Soldz, PhD
Dr. Soldz was a co-founder in 2007 of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology. The Coalition has been in the forefront of efforts to withdraw psychologists from aiding abusive interrogations in US Department of Defense and CIA facilities. Learn More »
Richard Sollom, MA, MPH
Richard oversees PHR programs on health, emergency response, armed conflict, asylum, and UN advocacy initiatives. During his time at PHR, he has led health and human rights investigations in Bahrain, Bangkok, Bangladesh, Burma, and Zimbabwe. Learn More »
Donna Sutter, MD, MPH
A member of PHR's Asylum Network since January 2002, Dr. Sutter has participated in over 30 asylum evaluations. Learn More »
Homer Venters, MD
An attending physician at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture as well as Medical Director for NYC DOHMH at Rikers Island Jail, Dr. Venters also sees detained victims of torture who are seeking asylum, and conducts trainings for US Dept. of Homeland Security Asylum Officers on the effects of torture. Learn More »
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