Executive Director, Health and Human Rights Initiative (HHRI)
UCSF Institute of Global Health Sciences
Triveni DeFries, MD, MPH is the Executive Director of the UCSF Health & Human Rights Initiative. She is an expert clinician and trainer on medical evaluations of asylum seekers and survivors of torture and ill-treatment. She is an Assistant Professor at University of California, San Francisco Department (UCSF) in the Division of General Internal Medicine and core faculty in the Institute of Global Health Sciences. She is a physician who is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine.
J. Raul Gutierrez, MD, is a UCSF Associate Professor of Pediatrics focusing his efforts in immigrant health. He is the Co-Director of the Bridges Clinic for Immigrant Children at Zuckerberg San Francisco General as well as co-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health. He is part of a cross-bay team developing a Center of Excellence in Immigrant Child Health and Wellbeing at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.
William Martinez, PhD, is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco and Director of the Child and Adolescent Services clinic in the Division of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychiatry at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He is currently the co-chair of the steering committee for the UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative. He is also faculty in two APA-accredited internship programs at UCSF/ZSFG - the Multicultural Clinical Training Program and the Clinical Psychology Training Program.
Dr. Jess Ghannam is in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute for Global Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at UCSF. His research areas include evaluating the long-term health consequences of war on displaced communities and the psychological and psychiatric effects of armed conflict on children. Dr. Ghannam has developed community health clinics in the Middle East that focus on developing community-based treatment programs for families in crisis.
Dr. Rebeccah McKibben Brusca is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and an academic hospitalist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG). She graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine before completing her residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Osler Internal Medicine Program.
Dr. Zarin Noor is a pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland Primary Care clinic. Her experience as a refugee from Afghanistan led her to an educational and career path focused on caring for immigrant families. She is the Director of International Clinic within the Primary Care clinic, which focuses on the medical care of immigrant and refugee pediatric patients. She teaches and mentors residents and medical students. Dr. Noor has a US Civil Surgeon designation and provides medical exams for immigration purposes.
Cecilia Lipp, MA, MSL, is the Program Manager of the Health and Human Rights Initiative at the UCSF Institute of Global Health Sciences. She is a graduate in Multicultural Community (ISF) from UC Berkeley, Master's in Philosophy and Religion from CIIS, and received a Master's in Studies of Law (MSL) from UC Law SF. Her work at UC Law SF was focused in health policy, refugee law and human rights, with support from the UCSF – UC Law Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy.
Marianna Kong, MD serves as the Associate Director for Practice Transformation at the Center for Excellence in Primary Care at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and is a faculty member in the Department of Family & Community Medicine. Dr. Kong leads practice coaching and the Clinic First initiatives at the Center for Excellence in Primary Care, which aim to disseminate best practices in primary care teaching clinic transformation.
Dr. Jyothi Marbin is Assistant Dean, UCSF Regional Campus at UC Berkeley, Director of the UC Berkeley UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP) and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF & UC Berkeley. She is also a general pediatrician at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. Prior to her role at the JMP, Dr. Marbin served as the Associate Program Director (APD) for Recruitment and for Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) for the UCSF Pediatrics residency program.
Cristina Biasetto, LCSW, is the Mental Health Director of HHRI, a Licensed Clinicial Social Worker and clinical coordinator of the UCSF Trauma Recovery Center. She brings to the HHRI her expertise on psychological evaluations of persecution and torture survivors and her knowledge of trauma-informed care. She also contributes to the HHRI with her professional experience in the design, management, and implementation of psychosocial assistance programs for asylum seekers, refugees, and torture survivors.
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