speakers
Adam Brown
brownad@newschool.edu
Adam Brown is an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychology at The New School for Social Research, where he director of the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. Dr. Brown’s lab studies the ways in which potentially-traumatic events contribute to mental health issues and develops strategies to help mitigate the negative impacts of stress. His lab is especially interested in combining findings from lab-based research and community partnerships with non-mental health specialists, to guide the development of low-cost and easily accessible treatments. Dr. Brown is also a member of the Human Rights Resilience Project, an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners carrying out research and creating tools to improve resilience and well-being in the human rights community. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and his work has been supported by federal agencies and private foundations. He also holds an adjunct faculty position in the Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine.
Amy Nitza
nitzaa@newpaltz.edu
Amy Nitza directs the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at the State University of New York–New Paltz. She holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University, and specializes in mental health training and group counseling in international contexts, with a particular interest in the role of cultural factors in group dynamics and group-based interventions. Dr. Nitza has completed field work and Fulbright Scholarships in Botswana, Bhutan, Haiti, and elsewhere. Currently, she consults with the University of Notre Dame in Haiti to develop trauma-related interventions for children in domestic servitude, and to provide training for teachers in dealing with traumatized children in the classroom. Dr. Nitza is immediate past President and Fellow of the Association for Specialists in Group Work.
Bora Meraj
bora.meraj@newschool.edu
Bora Meraj is a second year MA student at NSSR's Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. She received her MSc in Psychological Research from the University of Oxford and BSc in Psychology Research from the University of Toronto. Her current work identifies risk factors for mental health difficulties among Rohingya refugees in urban Malaysia, explores the role of religion in coping with displacement, and investigates intergroup processes (e.g., dehumanization) that contribute to ethnic violence. She is also conducting experiments on episodic specificity training for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder. Bora has supported efforts to destigmatize mental illness in India and provided psychosocial support to Syrian refugees at an emergency shelter in Germany.
Carollynn Costella
ccostella@vassar.edu
Carollynn Costella is a Research Librarian at Vassar College who works as the librarian liaison for the History and Hispanic Studies departments and the Latin American and Latino/a/x Studies Multidisciplinary Program. Carollynn, along with other Vassar librarians, has worked with Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education's Coordinator for Research and Pedagogy, Brittany Murray, to design assignments for Brittany's Vassar course titled Lexicon of Forced Migration and other projects for the Consortium.
brownad@newschool.edu
Adam Brown is an Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist in the Department of Psychology at The New School for Social Research, where he director of the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. Dr. Brown’s lab studies the ways in which potentially-traumatic events contribute to mental health issues and develops strategies to help mitigate the negative impacts of stress. His lab is especially interested in combining findings from lab-based research and community partnerships with non-mental health specialists, to guide the development of low-cost and easily accessible treatments. Dr. Brown is also a member of the Human Rights Resilience Project, an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners carrying out research and creating tools to improve resilience and well-being in the human rights community. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and his work has been supported by federal agencies and private foundations. He also holds an adjunct faculty position in the Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine.
Amy Nitza
nitzaa@newpaltz.edu
Amy Nitza directs the Institute for Disaster Mental Health at the State University of New York–New Paltz. She holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University, and specializes in mental health training and group counseling in international contexts, with a particular interest in the role of cultural factors in group dynamics and group-based interventions. Dr. Nitza has completed field work and Fulbright Scholarships in Botswana, Bhutan, Haiti, and elsewhere. Currently, she consults with the University of Notre Dame in Haiti to develop trauma-related interventions for children in domestic servitude, and to provide training for teachers in dealing with traumatized children in the classroom. Dr. Nitza is immediate past President and Fellow of the Association for Specialists in Group Work.
Bora Meraj
bora.meraj@newschool.edu
Bora Meraj is a second year MA student at NSSR's Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. She received her MSc in Psychological Research from the University of Oxford and BSc in Psychology Research from the University of Toronto. Her current work identifies risk factors for mental health difficulties among Rohingya refugees in urban Malaysia, explores the role of religion in coping with displacement, and investigates intergroup processes (e.g., dehumanization) that contribute to ethnic violence. She is also conducting experiments on episodic specificity training for individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder. Bora has supported efforts to destigmatize mental illness in India and provided psychosocial support to Syrian refugees at an emergency shelter in Germany.
Carollynn Costella
ccostella@vassar.edu
Carollynn Costella is a Research Librarian at Vassar College who works as the librarian liaison for the History and Hispanic Studies departments and the Latin American and Latino/a/x Studies Multidisciplinary Program. Carollynn, along with other Vassar librarians, has worked with Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education's Coordinator for Research and Pedagogy, Brittany Murray, to design assignments for Brittany's Vassar course titled Lexicon of Forced Migration and other projects for the Consortium.
Adedoyin Teriba
ateriba@vassar.edu
Adedoyin Teriba is an Assistant Professor of modern and contemporary architecture & urbanism at Vassar College. Part of his research focuses on the history of the architecture of setters/migrants of African Descent in Anglophone and Francophone West Africa from the 18thcentury to the present day. He took his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has been the recipient of grants from the Center of Arts and Cultural Policy Studies as well as the Program of Latin American Studies at Princeton University. His most recent publication is: “Prolegomenon to a Civilization in the Motherland: The Diaspora’s Architecture & Societal Aims in Colonial West Africa,” in Design Dispersed. Forms of Migration and Flight(Transcript Publishing House, 2019). Additionally, before becoming an historian, he worked as an architect in the United States and Nigeria.
Amina Memon
Amina.Memon@rhul.ac.uk
Amina Memon is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London and Director of the interdisciplinary Research Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law. She conducts robust and ecologically valid research on the use of cognitive techniques in police investigations. Her work is informed by social psychological approaches to understanding memory, decision making, detection of deception and credibility assessment. Dr. Memon is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Association for Psychological Science and the Royal Society of Arts.
Anita Fábos
AFabos@clarku.edu
Anita Fábos is an anthropologist and Professor of International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University. Formerly the Director of the Forced Migration and Refugee Studies program at the American University in Cairo, and later Programme Coordinator for the graduate program in Refugee Studies at the University of East London, Fábos has integrated teaching, research, and participatory programs that have incorporated refugee and forced migrant perspectives into collaborative work with scholars, practitioners, refugee organizations, policy makers, and international organizations. At Clark University, students in her classes have carried out community-based projects that have investigated refugee participation in community development initiatives, refugee access to higher education, refugee livelihoods in Worcester, and experiences of belonging and home for people from refugee and non-refugee backgrounds.
Anita has worked and conducted research together with Muslim Arab Sudanese in the diaspora on transnational identity and mobility in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. She has published widely on topics related to race, ethnicity, and gender identities for people on the move, Muslim mobilities, and the acoustics of diaspora.. She is currently working on a book with Cathrine Brun on home and home-making for people living in long-term displacement.
Anish Kanoria
anishkanoria7@gmail.com
Anish Kanoria graduated from Vassar College with General and Departmental Honors in 2018. He co-founded the Vassar Refugee Solidarity (VRS) initiative with Prof. Maria Hoehn, and lead the initiative until his graduation. As the student leader of VRS and in his role as the coordinator for the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education, he directed student efforts across the campuses. He also conceptualized and helped to implement a curriculum on forced migration, constructing the archive of texts and preparing the groundwork for the Consortium’s pedagogical initiatives. He majored in Political Science and Economics, and wrote a thesis titled “At the Bottom of a Teacup: the Marwaris of Calcutta.” He is currently working with his family business in Kolkata, India and exploring opportunities there for future Consortium engagement.
Brittany Murray
bmurray@vassar.edu
Brittany Murray is a scholar of French & Francophone Studies at Vassar College, where she is Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Studies. She teaches the entry course for the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education (CFMDE), titled "A Lexicon of Forced Migration." She is CFMDE's Program Coordinator.
Carmen Valle-Trabadelo
cvt@redbarnet.dk
Dr Carmen Valle-Trabadelo, Senior MHPSS Advisor at the MHPSS Collaborative, is a psychologist with 15 years’ experience in mental health. Initially focused in academia and research, she worked for Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, Cardiff University in Wales, and Universidad San Pablo in Madrid, where she reached the position of Head of the Psychology Department. In 2011, after coordinating several collaborations between San Pablo and universities in Low and Middle-income countries, she fully transitioned to development and humanitarian work. She worked with CBM in Sierra Leone for almost 5 years, supporting the implementation of Enabling Access to Mental Health and leading WHO’s MHPSS response during the Ebola crisis. She then transitioned to serve as Global Mental Health Advisor for CBM, providing technical support and advice in 15 countries across South East Asia and Latin America, with a strong focus on Human Rights, Systems Strengthening, and Psychological Interventions. In her current roles, she advises on Advocacy, Innovations and Research for Child and Families MHPSS.
ateriba@vassar.edu
Adedoyin Teriba is an Assistant Professor of modern and contemporary architecture & urbanism at Vassar College. Part of his research focuses on the history of the architecture of setters/migrants of African Descent in Anglophone and Francophone West Africa from the 18thcentury to the present day. He took his Ph.D. from Princeton University and has been the recipient of grants from the Center of Arts and Cultural Policy Studies as well as the Program of Latin American Studies at Princeton University. His most recent publication is: “Prolegomenon to a Civilization in the Motherland: The Diaspora’s Architecture & Societal Aims in Colonial West Africa,” in Design Dispersed. Forms of Migration and Flight(Transcript Publishing House, 2019). Additionally, before becoming an historian, he worked as an architect in the United States and Nigeria.
Amina Memon
Amina.Memon@rhul.ac.uk
Amina Memon is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London and Director of the interdisciplinary Research Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law. She conducts robust and ecologically valid research on the use of cognitive techniques in police investigations. Her work is informed by social psychological approaches to understanding memory, decision making, detection of deception and credibility assessment. Dr. Memon is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Association for Psychological Science and the Royal Society of Arts.
Anita Fábos
AFabos@clarku.edu
Anita Fábos is an anthropologist and Professor of International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University. Formerly the Director of the Forced Migration and Refugee Studies program at the American University in Cairo, and later Programme Coordinator for the graduate program in Refugee Studies at the University of East London, Fábos has integrated teaching, research, and participatory programs that have incorporated refugee and forced migrant perspectives into collaborative work with scholars, practitioners, refugee organizations, policy makers, and international organizations. At Clark University, students in her classes have carried out community-based projects that have investigated refugee participation in community development initiatives, refugee access to higher education, refugee livelihoods in Worcester, and experiences of belonging and home for people from refugee and non-refugee backgrounds.
Anita has worked and conducted research together with Muslim Arab Sudanese in the diaspora on transnational identity and mobility in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. She has published widely on topics related to race, ethnicity, and gender identities for people on the move, Muslim mobilities, and the acoustics of diaspora.. She is currently working on a book with Cathrine Brun on home and home-making for people living in long-term displacement.
Anish Kanoria
anishkanoria7@gmail.com
Anish Kanoria graduated from Vassar College with General and Departmental Honors in 2018. He co-founded the Vassar Refugee Solidarity (VRS) initiative with Prof. Maria Hoehn, and lead the initiative until his graduation. As the student leader of VRS and in his role as the coordinator for the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education, he directed student efforts across the campuses. He also conceptualized and helped to implement a curriculum on forced migration, constructing the archive of texts and preparing the groundwork for the Consortium’s pedagogical initiatives. He majored in Political Science and Economics, and wrote a thesis titled “At the Bottom of a Teacup: the Marwaris of Calcutta.” He is currently working with his family business in Kolkata, India and exploring opportunities there for future Consortium engagement.
Brittany Murray
bmurray@vassar.edu
Brittany Murray is a scholar of French & Francophone Studies at Vassar College, where she is Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Studies. She teaches the entry course for the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement, and Education (CFMDE), titled "A Lexicon of Forced Migration." She is CFMDE's Program Coordinator.
Carmen Valle-Trabadelo
cvt@redbarnet.dk
Dr Carmen Valle-Trabadelo, Senior MHPSS Advisor at the MHPSS Collaborative, is a psychologist with 15 years’ experience in mental health. Initially focused in academia and research, she worked for Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, Cardiff University in Wales, and Universidad San Pablo in Madrid, where she reached the position of Head of the Psychology Department. In 2011, after coordinating several collaborations between San Pablo and universities in Low and Middle-income countries, she fully transitioned to development and humanitarian work. She worked with CBM in Sierra Leone for almost 5 years, supporting the implementation of Enabling Access to Mental Health and leading WHO’s MHPSS response during the Ebola crisis. She then transitioned to serve as Global Mental Health Advisor for CBM, providing technical support and advice in 15 countries across South East Asia and Latin America, with a strong focus on Human Rights, Systems Strengthening, and Psychological Interventions. In her current roles, she advises on Advocacy, Innovations and Research for Child and Families MHPSS.
Alexandra Tohme
alextohme.lbn@gmail.com
Alexandra Tohme has over eight years of Middle East affairs experience, covering research, field work, policy and security analysis, grassroots programing and community development, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and diplomacy/negotiation. Most recently, Tohme founded a local community-based organization, called Azahir Association, to empower underprivileged and refugee youth and provide psychosocial support to children with war trauma. Azahir operates two community centers in the most impoverished areas of Lebanon in the northern province of Akkar - one in an urban refugee camp and one in a remote rural village near the Syrian border.
Amy Kaslow
amy.kaslow@gmail.com
Amy Kaslow is a writer and photographer focusing on societies experiencing dramatic change. Internationally, she covers immediate and longterm challenges for post-conflict communities; domestically, at-risk populations. Kaslow has been active in public policy, private sector development, and non-profit work. Service, including local, national and international boards, is central to her efforts. She publishes an award-winning online newsletter, K/NOW.
Aslam Kakar
aslam.kakar@rutgers.edu
Aslam Kakar is a PhD student at the Division of Global Affairs (DGA) and Part-time lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Rutgers University. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and holds a master's degree in Peace and Justice Studies from the University of San Diego. As a master's student, Kakar worked as an intern with Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations where he reported on peace and security issues at the Security Council. At DGA, Kakar's academic interests include intra-state ethic and political conflicts and social movements with focus on Pakistan and Turkey. He has written on global poverty and development issues for the the Borgen Magazine and the Borgen Blog. He also writes on human rights and social justice issues in Pakistan for Waging Nonviolence and the Daily Times. Kakar is the Editor-in-Chief of the DGA blog, Borderless.
Christian Moser
christian.moser@psy.unibe.ch
Christian T. Moser is a clinical psychologist, working as a research associate at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His work focuses on disorders related to stress and internet-based psychotherapy. At the Swiss Red Cross, he is working as a therapist for victims of torture and war and as the product lead for an e-mental health initiative for refugees in Switzerland. As a co-founder of the social startup Noia, he is developing scalable digital solutions to provide access to mental healthcare for individuals affected by conflict and war in Iraq.
Darien Davis davis@middlebury.edu
Darien Davis is Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at Middlebury College. He teaches courses on Latin American, Caribbean, African and Jewish migration and diasporas and on cultural production, integration and rights of migrant communities. His research focuses more specifically on Latino communities abroad and on Brazilians and Afro-Brazilian diasporic and migrant communities in the Atlantic world. He is the author of three books on Brazil, co-author of four versions of a book on the Jewish author Stefan Zweig in Brazil, three edited volumes on African and Latino diaspora communities, and several articles on the themes of minority cultural rights and construction of racial and ethnic identities across empires.
alextohme.lbn@gmail.com
Alexandra Tohme has over eight years of Middle East affairs experience, covering research, field work, policy and security analysis, grassroots programing and community development, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and diplomacy/negotiation. Most recently, Tohme founded a local community-based organization, called Azahir Association, to empower underprivileged and refugee youth and provide psychosocial support to children with war trauma. Azahir operates two community centers in the most impoverished areas of Lebanon in the northern province of Akkar - one in an urban refugee camp and one in a remote rural village near the Syrian border.
Amy Kaslow
amy.kaslow@gmail.com
Amy Kaslow is a writer and photographer focusing on societies experiencing dramatic change. Internationally, she covers immediate and longterm challenges for post-conflict communities; domestically, at-risk populations. Kaslow has been active in public policy, private sector development, and non-profit work. Service, including local, national and international boards, is central to her efforts. She publishes an award-winning online newsletter, K/NOW.
Aslam Kakar
aslam.kakar@rutgers.edu
Aslam Kakar is a PhD student at the Division of Global Affairs (DGA) and Part-time lecturer at the Department of Political Science, Rutgers University. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and holds a master's degree in Peace and Justice Studies from the University of San Diego. As a master's student, Kakar worked as an intern with Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations where he reported on peace and security issues at the Security Council. At DGA, Kakar's academic interests include intra-state ethic and political conflicts and social movements with focus on Pakistan and Turkey. He has written on global poverty and development issues for the the Borgen Magazine and the Borgen Blog. He also writes on human rights and social justice issues in Pakistan for Waging Nonviolence and the Daily Times. Kakar is the Editor-in-Chief of the DGA blog, Borderless.
Christian Moser
christian.moser@psy.unibe.ch
Christian T. Moser is a clinical psychologist, working as a research associate at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His work focuses on disorders related to stress and internet-based psychotherapy. At the Swiss Red Cross, he is working as a therapist for victims of torture and war and as the product lead for an e-mental health initiative for refugees in Switzerland. As a co-founder of the social startup Noia, he is developing scalable digital solutions to provide access to mental healthcare for individuals affected by conflict and war in Iraq.
Darien Davis davis@middlebury.edu
Darien Davis is Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at Middlebury College. He teaches courses on Latin American, Caribbean, African and Jewish migration and diasporas and on cultural production, integration and rights of migrant communities. His research focuses more specifically on Latino communities abroad and on Brazilians and Afro-Brazilian diasporic and migrant communities in the Atlantic world. He is the author of three books on Brazil, co-author of four versions of a book on the Jewish author Stefan Zweig in Brazil, three edited volumes on African and Latino diaspora communities, and several articles on the themes of minority cultural rights and construction of racial and ethnic identities across empires.
Consortium faculty
Daniel Gaztambide
New School
gaztambd@newschool.edu
Daniel José Gaztambide, PsyD, is a visiting assistant professor at the New School for Social Research, where he is the interim director of the Culture & Mental Health Lab. His scholarly work focuses on culture and race in psychotherapy, Latinx identity, migration and colonial mentality, and the impact of inequality on mental health. He is also an activist and artist in the New York Latinx community, and a member in governance of the American Psychological Association.
Elizabeth Bradley
ebradley@vassar.edu
Elizabeth Bradley is the eleventh President of Vassar College. Dr. Bradley holds a joint appointment as Professor of Political Science and Professor of Science, Technology, and Society. Previously, Dr. Bradley was Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy, Founder and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute, and the head of Branford College at Yale University. In 2018, she was named a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs and elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Bradley has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less (2013).
Evan Henritze
Evan Henritze is a clinical psychology PhD student at the New School for Social Research with affiliations in both the Global Mental Health Lab and the Psychotherapy Research Lab. He researches the interpersonal skills associated with traditional therapy as well as peer-based (“task-shifting”) mental health interventions. His work focuses on relieving burnout by integrating contemplative practice, ethical training, and knowledge of historical-trauma for individuals such as human rights advocates, mental health professionals, and medical social workers.
Jonas Attilus
ja1054@sph.rutgers.edu
MPH class 2020 (Health Systems and Policy Concentration), Research Assistant Global Mental Health (Rutgers Nursing School & Dominican Republic). Jonas Attilus, MD was born and grew up in Haiti. In 2005, he was admitted to a 7-year program to study medicine at the State University of Haiti. In January 2010, an earthquake affected his city and destroyed his medical school. He left Haiti to live in Mexico as a refugee. He start medical school there anew, at the same time that he was learning to speak Spanish. He graduated in 2016. In 2018, Rutgers School of Public Health offered Dr. Attilus a scholarship, which fully funded his tuition, to study health systems & policess. Jonas has won several international prices including the 2014 Many Languages, One World (MLOW) international essay contest. This contest is organized by United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and ELS Educational Services, Inc., to foster global citizenship and cultural understanding by promoting multilingualism. He was also a recipent of the Undergraduate Intensive English Language Study Program (UIELSP) from the US Department of State. Dr. Attilus is completing his MPH degree and is a 2020 internal medicine residency applicant with interest in social medicine, health disparities, migrant health, integrated care and advocacy.
Kendal Pfeffer
pfefk996@newschool.edu
Kendall Pfeffer is a second-year M.A. student in psychology at the New School for Social Research. She has a Master's degree in mental health counseling and experience working with emergency responders on disaster mental health. Currently, she is a Zolberg Institute-IRC fellow collaborating on a project which utilizes human-centered design methodologies and CBPR to develop scalable models of MHPSS service delivery for displaced and conflict-affected populations. Kendall is also engaged in experimental research examining the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived control.
Daniel Gaztambide
New School
gaztambd@newschool.edu
Daniel José Gaztambide, PsyD, is a visiting assistant professor at the New School for Social Research, where he is the interim director of the Culture & Mental Health Lab. His scholarly work focuses on culture and race in psychotherapy, Latinx identity, migration and colonial mentality, and the impact of inequality on mental health. He is also an activist and artist in the New York Latinx community, and a member in governance of the American Psychological Association.
Elizabeth Bradley
ebradley@vassar.edu
Elizabeth Bradley is the eleventh President of Vassar College. Dr. Bradley holds a joint appointment as Professor of Political Science and Professor of Science, Technology, and Society. Previously, Dr. Bradley was Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy, Founder and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute, and the head of Branford College at Yale University. In 2018, she was named a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs and elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Bradley has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less (2013).
Evan Henritze
Evan Henritze is a clinical psychology PhD student at the New School for Social Research with affiliations in both the Global Mental Health Lab and the Psychotherapy Research Lab. He researches the interpersonal skills associated with traditional therapy as well as peer-based (“task-shifting”) mental health interventions. His work focuses on relieving burnout by integrating contemplative practice, ethical training, and knowledge of historical-trauma for individuals such as human rights advocates, mental health professionals, and medical social workers.
Jonas Attilus
ja1054@sph.rutgers.edu
MPH class 2020 (Health Systems and Policy Concentration), Research Assistant Global Mental Health (Rutgers Nursing School & Dominican Republic). Jonas Attilus, MD was born and grew up in Haiti. In 2005, he was admitted to a 7-year program to study medicine at the State University of Haiti. In January 2010, an earthquake affected his city and destroyed his medical school. He left Haiti to live in Mexico as a refugee. He start medical school there anew, at the same time that he was learning to speak Spanish. He graduated in 2016. In 2018, Rutgers School of Public Health offered Dr. Attilus a scholarship, which fully funded his tuition, to study health systems & policess. Jonas has won several international prices including the 2014 Many Languages, One World (MLOW) international essay contest. This contest is organized by United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and ELS Educational Services, Inc., to foster global citizenship and cultural understanding by promoting multilingualism. He was also a recipent of the Undergraduate Intensive English Language Study Program (UIELSP) from the US Department of State. Dr. Attilus is completing his MPH degree and is a 2020 internal medicine residency applicant with interest in social medicine, health disparities, migrant health, integrated care and advocacy.
Kendal Pfeffer
pfefk996@newschool.edu
Kendall Pfeffer is a second-year M.A. student in psychology at the New School for Social Research. She has a Master's degree in mental health counseling and experience working with emergency responders on disaster mental health. Currently, she is a Zolberg Institute-IRC fellow collaborating on a project which utilizes human-centered design methodologies and CBPR to develop scalable models of MHPSS service delivery for displaced and conflict-affected populations. Kendall is also engaged in experimental research examining the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived control.
Danny Horesh
danny.horesh@biu.ac.il
Danny Horesh is head of the Trauma and Stress Research Lab and Director of the Child Clinical Psychology Program at Bar-Ilan University's Department of Psychology. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at NYU's Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Horesh's research focuses on factors associated with vulnerability and resilience to traumatic stress. He also studies mindfulness-based psychotherapy among a variety of populations.
Grace Felten
grace.felten@uconn.edu
Grace Felten, MSW, is a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Work at the University of Connecticut. Shebegan her career working for the Jane Goodall Institute, focusing on community service at the local and international level. She obtained her MSW at the University of Connecticut, along with an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in human rights and specializions in the areas of international social work and women, children, and families. She completed her fieldwork at the United Nations, representing the International Association of Schools of Social Work on UN NGO advocacy committees focused on migration, human trafficking, sustainable development, poverty, and the rights of women and girls. She continued her fieldwork with the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders, advocating for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions on women, peace, and security. For the past two years, she has been part of a research team exploring community mobilization in U.S refugee resettlement. She is currently working on her dissertation exploring how forced migration affects the reproductive health and wellbeing of refugee women in Greece.
Gary Belkin
g@abillion.org
Gary is Founder and President, Billion Minds Institute, and Visiting Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.
A psychiatrist who approaches mental health as a building block of social policy and progress, he recently founded Billion Minds as a non-profit policy and “think-action tank.” The intention of Billion Minds is to link mental health to problems of great scale, specifically to the climate crisis and to safeguarding sustainable societies through a humane social climate. Gary is the former Executive Deputy Commissioner in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene where he led the Division of Mental Hygiene and its development and implementation of the innovative NYC-wide public mental health initiative, ThriveNYC. Before joining city government, he was the Medical Director for Behavioral Health across the Health and Hospitals Corporation of the City of New York. As Director of the NYU Program in Global
Mental Health, Gary partnered with other groups globally to test and scale community-led models of mental health promotion and access in less resourced countries that are now widely
used. A graduate of Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he also earned his undergraduate degree, Gary is a Harvard School of Public Health alum (MPH ’87), an completed a doctorate in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University.
Julia Superka
supej632@newschool.edu
Julia Superka is a second year M.A. student in the Department of Psychology at the New School for Social Research. She is the Lab Manager for the Trauma and Global Mental Health Lab. Her research interests lie at the intersection of early detection and interventions for trauma-exposed interventions and the development of scaleable treatments for individuals with limited access to mental healthcare. Prior to her graduate studies she conducted trauma research at NYU School of Medicine and the University of New South Wales.
Kerry Stamp
kstamp@vassar.edu
Kerry Stamp serves as Director of International Programs at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. In this role, Ms. Stamp is responsible for managing the education abroad programs and partnerships of the College, at which nearly half of students study abroad for one semester or more prior to graduation. In her previous professional role, Kerry acted as Associate Director of Education Abroad at Binghamton University, where she developed and launched a new departmental strategic plan based around a mission to increase student access to high quality and inclusive global learning opportunities. As an A.B.D. doctorate student, Ms. Stamp's research also focuses on the subject of diversity abroad. Her dissertation work examines institutional processes in higher education administration that affect student access to education abroad opportunities. Other research that she has engaged in include inquiry around the topics of ethical International Service Learning (ISL) and the state of study abroad opportunities in the field of Public Affairs.
David Sivastrava
DavidShiva.Srivastava@insel.ch
David Srivastava is currently the Head of the Fast Track Unit and Senior Attending Specialist in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University Hospital Bern. He is a board certified Emergency Physician (EBCEM) and holds an MBA in International Healthcare Management. Dr. Srivastava obtained his MD from the University of Freiburg and received his MBA from the Frankfurt School for Finance and Management. His research focuses on vulnerable populations and process management in the Emergency Department. He has led multiple projects in this area including research, education and cooperation with multiple institutions on all levels to support the triple aim strategy in healthcare (better health for the population, better care for the individual, lower costs through improvement.)
Dr. Irene López
lopezi@kenyon.edu
Dr. Irene López is an Associate Professor at Kenyon College (Ph.D., Kent State University, B.A. Vassar College). She teaches in the psychology department, as well as in the Women and GEnder Studies Dept and the Latinx Studies Concentration. Born and raised in the Bronx, Dr. López is a clinical psychologist who studies psychopathology using a cross-cultural and feminist lens. She is particularly interested in psychopathology across contexts and in comparative research in migration and integration. This is a topic she will explore further as a U.S. Fulbrighter in Budapest, Hungary in the Spring of 2020..More about her work can be viewed at: www.irenelopezphd.com
Ismail Rashid israshid@vassar.edu
Ismail Rashid has been teaching at Vassar College since 1998. He received his PhD in African History from McGill University. His primary teaching interests are pre-colonial and modern African history, African Diaspora and Pan-Africanism, and International Relations. His research interests include subaltern resistance against colonialism, public health, and conflicts and security in contemporary Africa. Among his recent books are West Africa’s Security Challenges (2004 with Adekeye Adebajo), The Paradox of History and Memory in Postcolonial Sierra Leone (2013) (with Sylvia Ojukutu-Macauley) and Understanding West Africa’s Ebola Epidemic: Towards a Political Economy(2017) (with Ibrahim Abdullah).
Karen Paul
mahoehn@vassar.edu
Karen Paul is currently a third-year doctoral student in the Faculty of Social Work at McGill University. Situated in Global Child McGill, which researches and advocates for the wellbeing of children and families affected by war in Canada and internationally, Karen is exploring perspectives on what constitutes effective social work in settings of armed conflict. Karen worked for over four years in predominately high conflict intensity settings including Afghanistan, Libya, Turkey and Ukraine with International Medical Corps. Focused on mental health and psychosocial support in conflict settings, Karen supported national staff to provide care in their own contexts. Currently, Karen is teaching International Social Work with a focus on war and complex emergencies.
Kathleen Pike
kmp2@columbia.edu
Kathleen Pike is Executive Director and Scientific Co-Director of the Global Mental Health Program and is Associate Director of the Health and Aging Policy Fellowship Program at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. She is also Supervising Psychologist in the Eating Disorders Program at NYSPI. Dr. Pike has been involved with global initiatives around education and women's health throughout her career and has held academic and administrative university appointments in Japan where she served as Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean for Research at Temple University Japan and Visiting Professor at Keio University. Dr. Pike is recognized internationally for her work in the area risk factors and evidence based treatment for eating disorders. She also conducts clinical training and education globally across the range of mental disorders to expand clinical and research capacity for treatment in low-resourced communities and promote mental health literacy and advocacy for individuals with mental illness globally.
Kyle Farmbry
Kyle Farmbry is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark. He serves as Chair of the University Alliance for Refugees and at-Risk Migrants (UARRM). In 2016, Dr. Farmbry served as a Fulbright Fellow in Malta examining matters of migration, integration and xenophobia in the Central Mediterranean. In May of 2019, his book Migration and Xenophobia: A Three Country Exploration was published by Rowman Littlefield.
Logan Cummings
Logan.Cummings@rescue.org
Logan Cummings is the Innovation Strategy Advisor for the International Rescue Committee's Airbel Impact Lab, a team that brings together strategy, research, human-centered design, and behavioral science to develop life-changing, highly scalable solutions that meet the needs of people affected by conflict and crisis. He provides strategy support for a range of internal and external projects, with a focus on problem structuring and scoping of early stage concepts and development of financial and scale models to facilitate decision making. Over the past year, he has been leading Airbel's early stage scoping of opportunities for innovation within the mental health and psychosocial support space, recently kicking off field work in Jordan to assess the user experience and barriers to accessing quality MHPSS services with a focus on displaced populations.
Marian Passanante
marian.passannante@rutgers.edu
Marian Passannante is Professor at the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Associate Dean for Educational Program Development, School of Public Health, Rutgers Global Health Insititute, Rutgers University. As associate dean for educational program development at the School of Public Health, Marian Passannante works with faculty to develop educational opportunities at global sites. This includes curriculum development and evaluation. Passannante also has trained middle and high school students, medical students, public health graduate students, and members of the public health workforce in the basic principles of epidemiology and biostatistics. She maintains a research program in three content areas: tuberculosis epidemiology, injury epidemiology, and survey research. The first Rutgers School of Public Health global graduate level course, offered during the Summer 2019 semester, was Migration in the European Context: Challenges for Public Health. This study abroad course was taught in conjunction with faculty from the National School of Public Health in Athens, Greece. The course addressed the social, cultural, and public health implications of forced migration in Europe, as well as migrant and refugee health challenges specific to the migration crisis in Greece. Rutgers School of Public Health students spent one week with students from the National School of Public Health in Athens and one week on the island of Chios to learn firsthand about the agencies, such as Doctors without Borders, which provide support and care to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
Michele Tugade
mitugade@vassar.edu
Michele M. Tugade, Ph.D., Professor of Psychological Science and Director of the Affective Science Laboratory at Vassar College. Dr. Tugade's research focuses on the function of positive emotions in the coping process; the mechanisms that promote resilience in the face of stress and adversity; and emotion-related processes associated with health and well-being. She is also involved in a new partnership between Vassar College and the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, Africa, where she taught psychology to medical students.
Dr. Tugade received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health and is an elected member of the International Society for Research on Emotions. She has worked with a number of organizations, including: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, NASA, Apple, and The United Way. She gives public lectures on topics related to mental health & wellness, education, and women's leadership.
Nour Audi
Nour Audi is a DrPH candidate at the population and family health department in Mailman
school of public health at Columbia University. He received his medical degree from Al Kalamoon university in Syria before completing an internal medicine residency at Damascus school of medicine. He worked in the first aid response teams of the Syrian Red Crescent
throughout the current conflict. Then moved to work with Damascus-based humanitarian sector focusing on rehabilitation of primary health centers and establishing community
healthcare workers teams that support self-management of chronic diseases. He completed a
Master of Public Health degree in Brown university before joining the Mailman DrPH program.
Sara Romero
sromero9@fordham.edu
Sara Romero is the Global Mental Health Postdoctoral Fellow within The New School’s Psychology Department and at the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility. Her research focuses on assessing stress and trauma reactions and its related health outcomes within migrant communities. Her current research projects include a cross-national comparison of trauma-related outcomes and perceptions of trauma difficulty in encountering future trauma between the Mexicans and Americans. She currently co-teaches a graduate course in child and adolescent global mental health within The New School’s Psychology Department and works with Adam Brown within the Trauma and Global Mental Health lab on studies related to community-based interventions for migrant populations who are experiencing stress and trauma reactions.
Susan Trumbetta
trumbetta@vassar.edu
Susan Trumbetta is Professor and Chair of Psychological Science at Vassar College. Dr. Trumbetta earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College, her MDiv from Yale University, and her PhD from the University of Virginia. She completed her clinical psychology internship and postdoctoral work at Dartmouth Medical School. Her research areas include clinical psychology and psychopathology, differential psychology, and lifespan development. Trumbetta’s current research explores adolescent personality and psychopathology indicators as predictors of important life outcomes through later adulthood. She has conducted twin studies of consistency and change in marriage propensity across the lifespan, focusing on marriage and divorce as heritable phenotypes, on possible endophenotypes for marital status, and on genetic and environmental relationships between marital history and mental and physical health.Trumbetta also has collaborated on studies of schizophrenia, post traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, and HIV risk among individuals with severe mental illness.
M. Claire Greene
Logan.Cummings@rescue.org
M. Claire Greene is a psychiatric epidemiologist in the Global Mental Health Implementation Science Program within the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Her research focuses on the implementation and evaluation of interventions to address mental health, substance use, and related psychosocial problems in humanitarian settings.
Maria Höhn
mahoehn@vassar.edu
Maria Höhn is the Director and PI of the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education (Vassar College, Bard College/Annandale, Bard College/Berlin, Bennington, Sarah Lawrence Colleges, The New School and the Council for European Studies). She founded Vassar Refugee Solidarity and the Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance with student Anish Kanoria. She is Professor of History on the Marion Musser Lloyd ’32 Chair of History and International Studies at Vassar College, where her research focuses on the U.S. military presence in Germany after WWII, with a particular focus on gender and race relations, and the role that African American GIs played in moving forward the civil rights struggle.
Marie-Grace Kayogire
kagograce@gmail.com
Marie Grace Gasinzigwa Kagoyire is a public health professional with background in Professional counselling and social sciences. She is a Participatory Action Researcher with DUHUMURIZANYE IWACU RWANDA (DIR). She has experience in working with
Rwandans having different socio-historical background through group counselling, training and qualitative researches. During the last 10 years she has been a trainer of community psychosocial workers under the genocide survivor’s umbrella and trainer of sociotherapists in
both Rwandan communities and Congolese refugee camps under sociotherapy programmes implemented by DIR. In addition, she has participated in the process of contextualising and
translating community based sociotherapy approach module. She recently published an article on the intergenerational transmission of genocide legacies among descendants of rape survivors in Rwanda.
Michael K. Gusmano
mkg93@sph.rutgers.edu
Michael K. Gusmano, an Associate Professor of Health Policy, Director of the Concentration on Health Systems and Policy, and Director of Doctoral Studies at the Rutgers University School of Public Health. He is also a research scholar at the Hastings Center and a visiting fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York. His research examines the politics of health and social policy. He co-directs the World Cities Project, which compares large city health systems across the world. He is the author of Debating Modern Medical Technologies: The Politics of Safety, Effectiveness and Patient Access(with Karen J. Maschke; ABC-CLIO/Praeger, 2018), Health Care in World Cities: New York, London and Paris (with Victor G. Rodwin and Daniel Weisz; Johns Hopkins University Press 2010), Healthy Voices/Unhealthy Silence (with Colleen Grogan; Georgetown University Press 2007), Growing Older in World Cities(with Victor G. Rodwin; Vanderbilt University Press, 2006) and more than 100 scholarly articles. In 1995-1997 he was a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at Yale University. He serves as the International Editor of the Journal of Aging and Social Policy, Associate Editor for Health Economics, Policy and Law, and is on the board of editors of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Lawand the editorial committee of the Hastings Center Report. Gusmano received his doctorate in political science from the University of Maryland College Park in 1995.
Milad Yousufi
milad.yousufi@gmail.com
Milad Yousufi is a pianist, composer, conductor, poet, singer, painter, and calligrapher who is deeply inspired by his Afghan culture and heritage. He is the first Afghan-influenced western classical composer. Yousoufi is currently studying piano and composition at New York City's Mannes School of Music with the world-renowned pianist Simone Dinnerstein. He has had the opportunity to compose for The New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, premiered at Lincoln Center; Refugee Orchestra Project; Kronos Quartet, premiered in Carnegie Hall; Worcester Music, South High Community School Brass Band; and Terezin Music Foundation, premiered in Boston Symphony Hall. Upcoming commissions include Winsor Music, Trio Solisti, and Worcester Chamber Music Society. His dream is to make a difference in the future of music and culture in Afghanistan.
Nadine Friedl
nadine.friedl@psy.unibe.ch
Nadine Friedl is a clinical psychologist and doctoral candidate, University of Bern, Switzerland. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium and a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy from the University of Bern. Nadine Friedl is a co-founder of the start-up NOIA. Here she develops the content for scalable E-mental health interventions for populations affected by armed conflict and other violence who don't have access to sufficient mental health care.
Peipei Qiu
peqiu@vassar.edu
Peipei Qiu is Louise Boyd Dale and Alfred Lichtenstein Chair Professor of Chinese and Japanese. She received her BA and MA from Peking University and M.Phil. and PhD from Columbia University. A specialist in Japanese literature, Professor Qiu teaches a wide range of courses in Japanese and Chinese literature, language, Asian Studies, and Women's Studies. Professor Qiu is the recipient of many honors and grants, including a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, Mellon Foundation Grant, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship, The Japan Foundation Dissertation Research Fellowship, Columbia University President’s Fellowship, and The Japan Foundation Fellowship for Researchers. She is the author of Bashô and the Dao: The Zhuangzi and the Transformation of Haikai (University of Hawai'i Press, 2005), Chinese Comfort Women: Testimonies from Imperial Japan’s Sex Slaves (University of British Columbia Press, 2013; Oxford University Press, 2014; Hong Kong University Press, 2014), Riben diguo de xingnuli: Zhongguo "weianfu" de zhengyan (Hong Kong University Press, 2017; China Social Sience Press, 2018), and many research articles. Professor Qiu's scholarship has been published in English, Japanese, and Chinese languages and drawn international attention. Her interviews and media appearances include BBC, The Wall Street Journal, Voice of America, among others.
Pieter Ventevogel
ventevog@unhcr.org
Peter Ventevogel is a psychiatrist and a medical anthropologist. He is also the Senior Mental Health Expert with UNHCR, the refugee agency of the United Nations. From 2008-2013, Dr. Ventevogel was the editor-in-chief of Intervention, Journal for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas, published by the War Trauma Foundation. He has worked with the NGO HealthNet TPO in mental health projects in Afghanistan and Burundi, and as their Technical Advisor Mental Health in the head office in Amsterdam. Dr. Ventevogel has also worked as psychiatrist with Arq Foundation, the national trauma expert center in the Netherlands. Dr. Ventevogel regularly does consultancies for the World Health Organization and the UNHCR in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan and Syria. He has been course director of several academic short courses such as the course ‘Culture, Psychology and Psychiatry’ (Amsterdam Masters of Medical Anthropology), and the ‘Practice Oriented Course Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Post Conflict Setting’ (HealthNet TPO, the Netherlands).
Sharifah Shakirah
Sharifah1shakirah@gmail.com
Sharifah Shakirah is the founder and director of Rohingya Women Development Network (RWDN) and a researcher whose work has investigated gender based violence among Rohingya women in Malaysia. RWDN empowers Rohingya women and reduces social inequalities in Kuala Lumpur via education, leadership and the creation of employment opportunities. Her organization attempts to address the high illiteracy rates among Rohingya women by offering English and Malay language courses. RWDN also delivers different education streams around human rights such as child marriage, domestic violence and confidence building in women. Skills training for these women include sewing and craft making so they are able create products (e.g., earrings) for sale. Shakirah has been an outstanding role model for Rohingya women and has used an innovative approach to empower them through education and skills training in Malaysia. In recognition of her work, she was nominated for the US Department of State's International Women of Courage award.
Hanna de Vries
devrh735@newschool.edu
Hanna de Vries is a Graduate student of Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons School of Design and of Psychology at The New School for Social Research. She holds a BFA in Communication Design from Folkwang University of the Arts in Germany. Through combining creative expertise with scientific knowledge from Psychology, her work centers on the intersection of strategic design, systems thinking and scientific research in psychology, and aims to enhance participation in human-centered co-creative processes in mental health. In collaboration with psychologists and through participatory research, she designed a visual concept for a psycho-educative manual to be used language independently during therapy sessions with traumatized refugees. She also designed a phonetic font for deaf people and a visual concept and design to be used in a therapy method treating ADHD. Beside her academic career, Hanna de Vries also works as a visual designer, artist and photographer. In her work she seeks to cross the boundaries between art, research and mental health.
Mahi Ramakrishnan
mahi47@gmail.com
Mahi Ramakrishnan is an immigration activist, investigative journalist and filmmaker based in Kuala Lumpur. As an immigration activist, she is one of the founders of Beyond Borders Malaysia, which organizes the Refugee Festival in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia. Beyond Borders Malaysia believes that all refugees and stateless persons must have the right to work, access to structured education and affordable healthcare. The focus of the organization is on lobbying policy makers and governments to enact refugee friendly policies, to create an enabling platform for the inclusion of refugees and stateless persons in the decision-making process and showcase their talents and abilities. As an investigative journalist, Ramakrishnan has covered traffickers, arms smugglers, militants in southern Thailand and Indonesia, and refugees in Myanmar. She also directed a film about Rohingya child brides which was banned by the Malaysia government.
Martha Bragin
mbragin@hunter.cuny.edu
Martha Bragin is an Associate Professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College and the Doctoral Program in Social Welfare at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is Chairperson of Global Social Work and Practice with Immigrants and Refugees. She is a member of the IASC Reference Group (UN-NGO) on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, which developed the first international consensus guidelines for the field of mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian crises, as well as technical advisor to the International Network for Education in Emergencies. Dr. Bragin has helped foster sustainable change to countries in crisis by supporting governments to develop locality based social work standards and create culturally relevant social work curricula. Her current research includes a participatory study defining and operationalizing the concept “psychosocial wellbeing” among war affected women in Nepal. Burundi and Uganda, and another on classroom based interventions to improve educational outcomes for adolescents affected by war and community violence.
Miriam Steele
steelem@newschool.edu
Miriam Steele is Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Center for Attachment Research at The New School for Social Research. She trained as a psychoanalyst at the Anna Freud Centre. Her work aims to bridge the world of psychoanalytic thinking and clinical practice with contemporary research in child development. She initiated the London Parent–Child Project, a major longitudinal study of intergenerational patterns of attachment that gave rise to the concept of "reflective functioning." She has published more than 100 journal articles and book chapters. With Howard Steele and Anne Murphy, Dr. Steele has pioneered the development of Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI), aimed at preventing child maltreatment and promoting attachment security. She is a recipient of the 2017 Bowlby–Ainsworth Award from the Center for Mental Health Promotion, which cited her innovative longitudinal studies and translational research on attachment and mental representation.
Nicole Shea
ns3091@columbia.edu
Nicole Shea is the Director of the Council for European Studies and the Executive Editor of EuropeNow, a global publication for a broad, multi-disciplinary educated audience. Before joining CES, Shea served as the Executive Director of the Eisenhower Leadership Center at West Point where she was instrumental in shaping the Center’s innovative interdisciplinary programs and its successful global operation. Prior to that, she spearheaded cultural affairs programs and integrative curricular development as director, art curator, and faculty for Mount Saint Mary College and SUNY Orange.
Rachel Cohen
cohen@commonthreadsproject.net
Rachel is a clinical psychologist who has been in practice for over 30 years. She founded Common Threads in Geneva Switzerland in 2012. Now based in New York, she is a consultant specializing in psychosocial support for survivors of trauma. She has designed recovery projects in the developing world, training local staff and implementing interventions in post conflict areas including Bosnia, South Sudan, Uganda, Ecuador and Nepal. She earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1986, and a certificate in global mental health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma in 2010.
Sofia Funes, D.O.
saf238@njms.rutgers.edu
Preventive Medicine Resident, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School; MPH class of 2020 (Epidemiology Concentration), Rutgers School of Public Health. Sofia Funes was born and raised in El Salvador. During her childhood, she experienced the effects of her country's civil war and witnessed countless disparities in healthcare, which sparked her desire to become a physician. As teenager, Sofia and her family immigrated to the United States in pursuit of a promising future for herself and her siblings. She flourished in this new environment, conquering language barriers and bridging the gap between cultures. The desire to support underserved communities—on a local and global scale—is the driving force behind Sofia’s educational journey. During her time at the University of Florida and at Nova Southeastern College of Osteopathic Medicine, she coordinated multiple medical mission trips which provided healthcare to hundreds of patients in rural clinics throughout Latin America. Sofia is currently completing her Preventive Medicine Residency at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. During this time, she has collaborated with like-minded individuals from the Rutgers School of Public Health that share a passion for addressing the public health challenges of migration in the European context.
Saj Rahman
rahmans@newschool.edu
Saj Rahman directs the Institute for Transformative Mentoring, a training program for Credible Messengers who use their experience to work with young adults to reduce incarceration and violence. Saj has more than a decade of experience in youth development, community based research, curriculum development, advocacy and non-profit management. Saj has designed and implemented programs in New York City that foster personal transformation and build leadership skills among formerly incarcerated credible messengers. Saj previously served as the founding director of Arches Alumni Academy for Advancement at Community Connections for Youth. Saj graduated with a bachelor and master’s degrees in Psychology from Wesleyan University. He received the 2006 Holzberg Fellowship in Clinical and Community Psychology
Susan Sgorbati
sgorbati@bennington.edu
Susan Sgorbati is the Director of The Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College where she has been on the faculty for thirty years. She is a professional mediator and created the Conflict Resolution program at Bennington College. She is also the author of "Emergent Improvisation: On the Nature of Spontaneous Composition Where Dance Meets Science" which reflects on her collaboration with distinguished scientists and her theory and practice of improvisational practices.
Wendy Freedman wefreedman@vassar.edu
Wendy Freedman, Ph.D., CGP received a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a doctorate in clinical and school psychology from the University of Virginia. She has worked in the field of college counseling since 2003 and is currently the Director of the Vassar College Counseling Service. Professional interests include group therapy, consultation, attachment and relationships, suicide prevention, disability and chronic health conditions, and working with multicultural and social justice concerns. Dr. Freedman is a certified group psychotherapist and serves as co-chair of the Health and Medical Issues Special Interest Group and is a member of the Diversity Taskforce of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA). She has written book chapters about group co-facilitation and working with disability issues in group therapy.
Zeynep Guney
Zeynep is a PhD student at The New School for Social Research. She has been working academically and clinically with survivors of political trauma. She's currently working on her research on the wellbeing of the scholars under risk.