Executive Director, Health and Human Rights Initiative (HHRI)
UCSF Institute of Global Health Sciences
Triveni DeFries, MD, MPH, is the Executive Director of HHRI at the Institute of Global Health Sciences, the Medical Director of the Adult HRC and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UCSF. She previously served for several years as the Director of Education & Training for the UCSF HHRI. She studied Human Rights and Latin American Studies, completed an MPH in Global Health at Columbia University, and attended UCSF for medical school and residency in Internal Medicine.
Suzanne Barakat, MD, is the former Executive Director of the Health and Human Rights Initiative, and currently serves HHRI as an Advisor. She completed her residency served as Assistant Professor in Family & Community Medicine at UCSF. Dr. Barakat contributed to a first-of-its-kind mood screener and mental health assessment of Arabic-speaking communities worldwide, and worked at makeshift polyclinics and state hospitals serving thousands of refugees along the Turkish-Syrian border. She also serves as Board Chair for Our Three Winners Foundation.
Cristina Biasetto, LCSW, is 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.
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.
Coleen Kivlahan MD, MSPH is a family medicine physician and an experienced international expert and trainer in forensic medical evaluations of torture, ill-treatment and human rights violations. She serves as Chair of the UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative and Co-Medical Director of the Human Rights Collaborative, providing pro-bono asylum evaluations with our medical school and legal partners.
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.
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