Human Rights Clinic of Miami
OUR MISSION
The Human Rights Clinic of Miami (HRC) is an independent collection of medical students, residents, and attending physicians who dedicate their time and ability to provide impartial physical and psychiatric evaluations for asylum seekers and refugees in the United States.
We volunteer our services as clinical evaluators of human rights abuse to provide an objective evidence base for the courts. We conduct research to advance the academy’s understanding of how to best help our marginalized patient population. We connect patients to specialized care that serves their unique needs.
2023 In review
Evaluations complete
Virtual Evaluations
Research Posters & Presentations
SERVICES
Medical Evaluations
Our clinic provides medical evaluations for asylum seekers referred to us by our legal partners. The main goal of these medical evaluations is to provide picture of an individual’s overall health and document instances of human rights abuse. Evidence collected during these evaluations is translated to an affidavit, a medical-legal document that can be used in the courts to support their claim for asylum.
Please note that it may take up to 3-4 months for us to schedule each client for a medical evaluation. Scheduling order is based on urgency as determined by hearing date. We appreciate your patience! For any questions, please contact Jacklyn Samaha: jms730@med.miami.edu or Nikita Shah: nms225@med.miami.edu.
Training Future Human Rights Physicians
In addition to serving our population, our clinic seeks to train medical professionals – including medical students, residents, and physicians – to become leaders in the human rights field. By continuously training professionals in evaluating asylum seekers, we hope to create a sustainable model for training a workforce to meet the needs of our unique population.
Care Referrals
In order to maintain our role as impartial witnesses of human rights abuse in the courts, we do not provide direct medical or psychological care to our clients. Our services are restricted to an interview and physical/psychological exam that will result in a medical affidavit for the client that he/she may use as part of his/her case. However, we are currently in the process of developing a process for referring our clients to local clinics and free resources to meet their health needs.
Research
In addition to our mission to serve our population, we are actively engaged in research to continuously improve the services that we provide. We are always looking to work with interested partners on improving knowledge on the health and needs of our population
Student Leadership
JACKLYN SAMAHA
Co-Programs Director
Nikita Shah
Co-Programs Director
JILL NELSON
Co-Evaluations Director
AMY PHAM
Co-Evaluations Director
AMI DAVE
Co-Evaluations Director
JUWON LEE
Co-Evaluations Director
VIVIAN GAO
Scheduling Director
JULIA ABCHEE
Follow-up Manager
MARINA TORRAS
Interpreter Director
JAREN MULLEN
IT MANAGER
Megan Sherwood
Physician Recruitment & Training Director
Deborah Agorua
Research and Database Manager
Srihitha Akula
Research Database/Client Navigation Database Manager
Jessie Chen
Director of Client Navigation
Tanha Rahman
Client Navigator
Breanna Huang-Ouyang
Client Navigator
Frantzia Jeanty
Client Navigator
Philippe Jean-Pierre
Client Navigator
Saanvi Singireddy
Client Navigator
Stacey Li
Client Navigation & Client Database Coordinator
Thomas Diehl
Client Nav Database Coordinator
Ahsan ("Ace") Azfal
Continuity Manager
MEDICAL LEADERSHIP
Stephen Symes, MD
Medical director
Dr. Symes is an Associate Professor of Medicine – Division of Infectious Diseases with the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. Dr. Symes completed his medical education at Howard University in 1989 and residency training in Internal Medicine at Jackson Memorial Medical Center in 1992. He joined the faculty with the Department of Medicine in 1994, served as Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine residency program in 1997, and was promoted to Program Director in June 2006.
Dr. Symes has received
Torture Asylum training through Physicians for Human
Rights network, and conducted workshops for other
healthcare professionals on this topic. Through his work as HRC's Medical Director, he has seen close to 500 clients free of charge. He also serves as a primary Care provider for THRIVE
clinic, which provides integrated care for victims of
human trafficking, referred from the Department of
Homeland security and Dade County Attorney’s office.
Anjali Saxena, MD
Residency Director
Dr. Anjali Saxena is an Internal Medicine and Pediatric specialist. She graduated with honors from University Of Arkansas College Of Medicine in 2014 and completed residency training at UM-JMH Internal Medicine/Pediatrics in 2018.
FORMER STAFF
VOLUNTEER
The Human Rights Clinic of Miami is looking for physicians and interpreters to assist during our evaluations.
If you are interested in helping interpret, please contact our Interpretation Director, Marina Torras atmxt839@miami.edu
If you are a physician interested in volunteering, please contact our Physician Recruiter, Megan Sherwood at mxs7909@miami.edu