Public Health Experts Urge U.S. Officials to Withdraw Proposed Rule That Would Bar Refugees from Asylum and and Other Humanitarian Protections in the U.S.

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Chad F. Wolf
Acting Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
301 7th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20528                                       

William Barr
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Acting Secretary Wolf and Attorney General Barr:

As public health and medical experts at leading public health schools, medical schools, hospitals, and other U.S. institutions, we write to express our grave concerns about the rule^[1] proposed on July 9, 2020 that would bar refugees from asylum and other humanitarian protections in the United States purportedly to protect public health during pandemics.

The rule ignores and misuses the science and core principles of public health. It would grant the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ)—agencies that lack public health expertise—authority to label asylum seekers as a national security threat, scapegoating them as vectors for a potentially vast array of diseases and denying them protection. These sweeping new bans would direct immigration authorities to deport people seeking refugee and torture protection to life-threatening dangers in violation of U.S. law and treaty obligations. Like the March 20, 2020 order^[2]from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that DHS has been using to evade humanitarian protections at the border under the pretext^[3]of COVID-19, the proposed regulation is based on specious justifications and would be detrimental.

We urge DHS and DOJ to rescind the proposed rule and instead direct U.S. officials to use rational, evidence-based public health measures to safeguard both the health of the public and the lives of adults, families, and children seeking protection from persecution and torture. Public health cannot justify this discriminatory policy that imperils the lives of people seeking protection in the United States.

The Proposed Regulation Is Not Based on Sound Public Health Principles

Despite its pretext of protecting public health during pandemics, the proposed rule would undermine public health and further endanger people seeking protection in the United States.

While purporting to address current and future diseases that could cause a pandemic, the rule would, in fact, allow DHS and DOJ to ban refugees based on a host of other diseases^[4] including those that are not subject to U.S. quarantine laws, are treatable, and/or do not present risk of widespread public transmission, such as gonorrhea, syphilis, tuberculosis, and Hansen’s disease (leprosy), among others.

There is no public health rationale to applying public health measures differently based on immigration status. Yet the rule bars asylum seekers who have even briefly transited through a country where a covered disease is prevalent without regard to whether an individual has been exposed. While States may use health measures such as testing or quarantine, as needed, the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has explained in legal guidance regarding asylum access during the COVID-19 pandemic that states may not impose measures that preclude refugees from admission or deny them an effective opportunity to seek asylum, and that “(d)enial of access to territory without safeguards to protect against refoulement cannot be justified on the grounds of any health risk.”^[5]

The rule is disproportionate and not designed to halt disease transmission. It would mandatorily bar a refugee who “has come into contact” with a communicable disease covered by the rule at any point in the past and does not limit its application to recent exposure or infection. Asylum seekers infected with a covered disease while in the United States would be barred from protection—potentially even years after arriving in the United States—and subject to deportation, including asylum-seeking doctors, nurses, or other essential personnel engaged in vital work to address the disease. Perversely, the rule punishes asylum seekers, including those in U.S. immigration detention, for the failure of U.S. authorities to prevent and mitigate communicable disease outbreaks. Public trust is essential for the success of public health measures. By explicitly linking health concerns to immigration enforcement, this rule will likely erode trust, discourage care-seeking, and undermine public health goals.

In bypassing public health experts, the rule would authorize unqualified government functionaries who lack public health or medical training to make assessments with profound implications for access to asylum and other humanitarian protections. For instance, DHS and DOJ lack the expertise and ability to assess the prevalence of a communicable disease in another country. Immigration judges and DHS officers are not qualified to make medical diagnoses yet would be directed by the rule to determine whether an asylum seeker’s symptoms are indicative of a covered disease. This is particularly troubling during preliminary fear screening interviews when the vast majority of asylum seekers are detained, unrepresented, and have virtually no access to independent medical assessments.

Our Recommendations for an Alternative Approach

Rather than banning people seeking protection, U.S. authorities should adopt measures grounded in the best available public health guidance. With respect to SARS-COV-2, leading public health experts have recommended measures—detailed in the attached letter^[6] and paper^[7]—to protect U.S. border officers, those exercising their legal right to request protection in the United States, and the public health of our nation. In addition, U.S. authorities should heed the recommendations of public health and prison experts to stem infections by drastically reducing the populations in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities by releasing asylum seekers and other immigrants to shelter with family or friends.

Public health measures in the United States have moved on from the days when individuals with communicable diseases were treated merely as vectors of disease and immigrants were scapegoated for outbreaks and barred from the United States. Just ten years ago, the CDC lifted^[8] an immigration ban on individuals living with HIV—first adopted in the 1980s when there were more known cases of HIV/AIDS in the United States than anywhere else in the world—acknowledging that the restrictions were not an effective or necessary public health measure. The United States should not repeat past mistakes by adopting another discriminatory and ineffective ban on the pretext of public health.

This proposed rule, like the March 20 CDC order, is xenophobia masquerading as a public health measure, and both must be rescinded. These policies undermine the credibility of public health practice and expertise in the United States, with devastating results for the safety and well-being of both asylum seekers and the American public. The United States can and must both safeguard public health during emergencies and uphold U.S. laws and treaties protecting the lives of those seeking safety and freedom here.

Sincerely,*

Pooja Agrawal, MD, MPH, Director of Global Health Education, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine

Lucy Allbaugh, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Dayton

Brandon Allport Altillo, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Population Health, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

Joe Amon, PhD, MSPH, Clinical Professor, Community Health and Prevention, Director of Global Health, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University

Douglas Ander, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Jocelyn Anderson, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor, Pennsylvania State University College of Nursing

Miranda Aragón, MD, Assistant Professor and Faculty, University of New Mexico School of Medicine

Bonnie H. Arzuaga, MD, Instructor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

Anika Backster, MD, MSCR, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Jared Baeten, MD, PhD, Professor, Global Health, Epidemiology, Medicine - Allergy and Infectious Disease, Vice Dean for Strategy, Faculty Affairs and New Initiatives, University of Washington School of Public Health

Jen Balkus, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington School of Public Health

Ruanne V. Barnabas, DPhil, MSc, MBChB, Associate Professor, Global Health, Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Department of Global Health, University of Washington

Mary Bassett, MD, PhD, François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Gilberte (“Gigi”) Bastien, PhD, MA, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Associate Director of Office of Global Health Equity, Morehouse School of Medicine

Nicole Battaglioli, MD, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Stefano M. Bertozzi, MD, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and Management, Dean Emeritus, UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Jacqueline Bhabha, JD, MsC, Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, Director of Research, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights

Eliot Blum, MD, FACEP, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Jacob Bor, SD, Assistant Professor of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health

Joel G. Breman, MD, DTPH, FIDSA, FASTMH, President, American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene

Jesse B. Bump, PhD, MPH, Executive Director, Takemi Program in International Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Scott Burris, JD, Professor, Director of the Center for Public Health Law Research, Temple University Beasley School of Law

Jada Bussey-Jones, MD, Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Jose E. Campo Maldonado, MD, MSCI, FACP, Assistant Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine

Valeria Cantos Lucio, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Sara Casey, DrPH, Assistant Professor, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Ted Cohen, MD, MPH, DPH, Professor, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health

Sarah Cook, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine

Cheryl Conner, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

José F. Cordero, MD, MPH, FAAP, FACMG, Patel Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Department Head, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia College of Public Health

Joanne Csete, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Paula J. Davis-Olwell, PhD, MA, Clinical Assistant Professor, Global Health Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia

Joseph Eisenberg, PhD, MPH, Chair and Professor, Epidemiology, Professor, Global Public Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA, Director, ICAP at Columbia University, University Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine, Mathilde Krim-amfAR Chair of Global Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Eleanor Emery, MD, Cambridge Health Alliance; Department of Internal Medicine, Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, New Mexico

Eugenia Eng, DrPH, MPH, Professor of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Kacey Ernst, PhD, MPH, Professor & Program Director, Epidemiology, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona

Dabney P. Evans, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health

Eugene Farber, PhD, ABPP, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine

Shannon Farley, DrPH, Associate Research Scientist, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Glenn J. Fennelly, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Global Health Institute

Hope Ferdowsian, MD, MPH, FACP, FACPM, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine; Medical Expert, Physicians for Human Rights

Paul Fleming, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Giorgio Franyuti, MD, Director General, Medical IMPACT

Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, Dean and DeLamar Professor of Public Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Eric A. Friedman, JD, Global Health Justice Scholar, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Brittany Friend, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow, Emory University School of Medicine

Meghan Gallagher, PhD, MPH, Lecturer, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Lauren Gensler, MD, Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine

Rahel M. Gizaw, MD, Emergency Medicine Resident, Emory University School of Medicine

Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, MS, RN, Professor, Independence Foundation Chair, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Associate Director, Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health

Gregg Gonsalves, PhD, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health

David R. Goldsmith, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine

Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, LLD, University Professor, Founding O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law, Faculty Director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law, Georgetown University

Karen A. Goraleski, Chief Executive Officer, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Megan Gray, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Population Health, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

M. Claire Greene, PhD, MPH, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Sofia Gruskin, JD, MIA, Director, USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health, Professor, Keck School of Medicine, Gould School of Law, University of Southern California

Jill Guernsey de Zapien, Director, Border, Transborder, and Binational Public Health Collaborative Research, Health Promotion Sciences, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona

Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Linda Hill, MD, Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Medical Director of the Refugee Health Assessment Program, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Tom Inglesby, MD, Director, Center for Health Security, Professor, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Infectious Disease Epidemiology Division, Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine

Julie Jacobson, MD, DTM&H, Managing Partner, Bridges to Development; President-elect, American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene

Monik C. Jiménez, ScD, SM, FAHA, Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School/Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Elena Jiménez Gutiérrez, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of General and Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Chandy C. John, MD, MS, FASTMH, Ryan White Professor of Pediatrics, Director of the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Disease and Global Health at Indiana University School of Medicine; Past-President, American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene

Danielle Jones, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Program Director, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Eric C. Jones, PhD, Assistant Professor of Social Epidemiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health

S. Patrick Kachur, MD, MPH, FACPM, FASTMH, Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Ameeta Kalokhe, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Global Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health

Nadine Kaslow, PhD, Professor, Emory University School of Medicine

Jennifer Kasper, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Global Health and Social Medicine, and Chair, Faculty Advisory Committee on Global Health, Harvard Medical School

Kaveh Khoshnood, PhD, Associate Professor, Yale School of Public Health

Michael Khoury, MD, Assistant Professor, The Georgia Human Rights Clinic at Emory University School of Medicine

Elizabeth J. King, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Nolan Kline, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Rollins College

Brent Langellier, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University

Ling San Lau, MBBS, MPH, Senior Program Officer, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Kathryn Laughon, PhD, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor, University of Virginia School of Nursing

Neil S. Lava, MD, Associate Professor, Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine

Alan Lifson, MD, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Marc Lipsitch, DPhil, Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Danielle Loeb, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Jennifer Lom, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Stuart L. Lustig, MD, MPH, Legal-Medical Advisor, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, UC Hastings College of the Law

Dominic H. Mack, MD, MBA, Professor, Family Medicine, Director, National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine

Suzanne Maman, PhD, MHS, Professor of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health

Robert P. Marlin, MD, PhD, MPH, Chief, Metta Health Center, Lowell Community Health Center, Lowell, Massachusetts

Hon. Keith Martin, MD, PC, Executive Director, Consortium of Universities for Global Health

Natasha Martin, DPhil, Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, UC San Diego

William Martinez, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, UC San Francisco

Ana Martinez-Donate, PhD, Associate Professor, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University

Alexandria Maybury, MD, Assistant Professor, Emory University School of Medicine

Patrick McColloster, MD, Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine 

Joseph B. McCormick, MD, MS, James Steele Professor of Epidemiology, University of Texas, Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health Brownsville

Terry McGovern, JD, Harriet and Robert H. Heilbrunn Professor and Chair, Director, Global Health Justice and Governance, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Brian McGregor, PhD, Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Morehouse School of Medicine

Katherine McKenzie, MD, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine

Benjamin Mason Meier, JD, LLM, PhD, Associate Professor of Global Health Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS, FAAFP, Professor, Family Medicine, Georgetown School of Medicine, Director, Global Health Initiatives, Director, Robert L. Phillips, Jr. Health Policy Fellowship

Cecilia Menjívar, PhD, MA, MS, Professor and Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair, University of California, Los Angeles

Nicolas A. Menzies, PhD, Assistant Professor of Global Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

AmyCecilia Mogal, MD, PhD, Clinical Instructor, Department of Anesthesia, Stanford University; Attending Physician, Critical Care Unit, Washington Hospital Healthcare System, Fremont, California

Karin E. Montero, MD, FACS, Medical Director, Center for Survivors of Torture, Austin, Texas

Alejandro Moreno, MBBS, MPH, JD, FACP, Assistant Dean and Director, Department of Medical Education, Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

Rachel T. Moresky, MD, MPH, FACEP, Associate Professor, Population and Family Health Department, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health & Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine Department, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Juliana E. Morris, MD, EdM, Clinical Instructor, School of Medicine, UC San Francisco

Peter Navario, PhD, MPH, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Policy and Management at New York University School of Global Public Health; Executive Director, HealthRight International

Laura B. Nellums, PhD, MSc, Assistant Professor in Global Health, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham

Aliza Norwood, MD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Population Health, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

D. Daphne Owen, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Ashli Owen-Smith, PhD, SM, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health, Georgia State University

Kathleen Page, MD, Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins University

Kimberly Page, PhD, MPH, MS, Professor, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Preventive Medicine, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

Kathleen A. Parker, MA, MPH, CHES ret., Public Health Education Specialist, 1983-2004, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Parveen Parmar, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, Clinical Emergency Medicine, Chief, Division of Global Emergency Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

Snehal Patel, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

Andrés Patiño, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University

Elizabeth Peacock, MD, PhD, Clinical Faculty, Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University

Jose Quiroga, MD, Board Member, Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles

Tracy L. Rabin, MD, SM, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director, Office of Global Health, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine

Nalini Ranjit, PhD, MS, Associate Professor, Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – Austin

Paulina Rebolledo, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Global Health, Emory University

Les Roberts, PhD, Professor, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

W. Courtland Robinson, PhD, Associate Professor, Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Barbara Robles-Ramamurthy, MD, Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, University of Texas Health - San Antonio

Roger Rochat, MD, Professor, Global Health, Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

Francis Rollin, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Cynthia Romero, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare

Robert K. Ross, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, The California Endowment

Richard Rothenberg, MD, MPH, Regents' Professor, Georgia State University School of Public Health

Andrew S. Rowland, PhD, MA, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, University of New Mexico College of Population Health

Leonard Rubenstein, JD, LLM, Professor of the Practice, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Samantha Sabo, DrPH, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University

William M. Sage, MD, JD, Professor, School of Law and Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin

Goleen Samari, PhD, MPH, MA, Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Program on Forced Migration and Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

John Santelli, MD, MPH, Professor, Population and Family Health and Pediatrics, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Stacie Schmidt, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine

Jaime Sepulveda, MD, MPH, MSc, DrSc, Haile T. Debas Distinguished Professor of Global Health, Executive Director, Institute for Global Health Sciences, UC San Francisco

Josefa Simkin, MD, Chair Family Practice Department, Watsonville Community Hospital, Watsonville, California

Adria Simon, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Columbia University

B. R. Simon Rosser, PhD, MPH, LP, Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Hina Shaikh, JD, MPH, Research Director and Ethics Oversight Staff, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health

Joshua M. Sharfstein, MD, Professor of the Practice of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Anandi Sheth, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine

Neha S. Singh, PhD, MPH, Co-Director, Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre and Assistant Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Kumi Smith, PhD, MPIA, Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota

Craig Spencer, MD, MPH, Director of Global Health in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Population and Family Health at the Columbia University Medical Center, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health - Program on Forced Migration and Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Paul B. Spiegel, MD, MPH, Professor of Practice, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Director, Center for Humanitarian Health

Andrew Springer, DrPH, MPH, Associate Professor, Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health - Austin

Mia Stange, MPH, Terra Firma Medical-Legal Partnership, Montefiore Medical Center

Steffanie Strathdee, PhD, MSc, Associate Dean of Global Health Sciences and Harold Simon Professor in the Department of Medicine, Co-Director of the Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Til Stürmer, MD, PhD, MPH, Nancy A. Dreyer Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Parmi S. Suchdev, MD, MPH, FAAP, Associate Director, Emory Global Health Institute, Director, Global Health Office of Pediatrics, Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Hubert Department of Global Health, Emory University

Nina Sun, JD, Assistant Clinical Professor and Deputy Director, Global Health and Human Rights, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University

Andrea Swartzendruber, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Georgia College of Public Health

Sofia Tenorio Martínez, MD, MPH, Clinical Research Coordinator, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine

Lisa M. Thompson, PhD, FNP, RN, Associate Professor, Emory University Nell Hodgson School of Nursing

Liza Vertinsky, PhD, JD, Associate Professor, Emory Law School

Rachel Waford, PhD, ABPP, Assistant Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine

Ron Waldman, MD, MPH, President, Doctors of the World - USA

Karen Wang, MD, MHS, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine

Martha Ward, MD, Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine

Jon Warkentin, MD, MPH, President-Elect, National Society of TB Clinicians

Scott C. Weaver, PhD, Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology, John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Human Infections and Immunity, Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch

Aliza Wingo, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine

Andrea L. Wirtz, PhD, MHS, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Negar Yaghooti, MD, University of New Mexico Hospital

Monette Zard, MA, Allan Rosenfield Associate Professor of Forced Migration and Health, Director of the Forced Migration and Health Program, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Amy Zeidan, MD, Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Co-director, Human Rights/Asylum Clinic, Emory University School of Medicine

* Institutional affiliation is provided for identification purposes only and does not constitute institutional endorsement.