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.

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Evaluations complete

Virtual Evaluations

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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.
JACKLYN SAMAHA

Co-Programs Director

Shah, Nikita
Nikita Shah

Co-Programs Director

Jill Nelson
JILL NELSON

Co-Evaluations Director

Co-Evaluations Director
AMY PHAM

Co-Evaluations Director

Ami 2
AMI DAVE

Co-Evaluations Director

Juwon Lee
JUWON LEE

Co-Evaluations Director

Vivian Gao
VIVIAN GAO

Scheduling Director

Julia Abchee
JULIA ABCHEE

Follow-up Manager

Marina Torras
MARINA TORRAS

Interpreter Director

CES_Headshot_Edit 2
JAREN MULLEN
IT MANAGER
Megan Sherwood
Megan Sherwood

Physician Recruitment & Training Director

Deborah Agorua
Deborah Agorua

Research and Database Manager

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Srihitha Akula

Research Database/Client Navigation Database Manager

Jessie Chen
Jessie Chen

Director of Client Navigation

Tanha Rahman
Tanha Rahman

Client Navigator

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Breanna Huang-Ouyang

Client Navigator

Frantzia Jeanty
Frantzia Jeanty

Client Navigator

Philippe
Philippe Jean-Pierre

Client Navigator

Headshot_Singireddy
Saanvi Singireddy

Client Navigator

Stacey Li
Stacey Li

Client Navigation & Client Database Coordinator

Thomas Diehl
Thomas Diehl

Client Nav Database Coordinator

HeadshotAce
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