HHRI's Human Rights Collaborative hosts a forensic medical evaluation clinic, which occurs monthly.  The UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative's Faculty Evaluators provide the clinical expertise to document the physical and psychological manifestations of torture and other ill-treatment experienced by individuals applying for asylum and other forms of legal protection in the United States. The clinic itself is managed by HRC Clinic Coordinators, a dedicated team of students selected on an annual basis, who coordinate all aspects of referral, documentation and scheduling. Referrals should be submitted by the client's attorney.

The UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative provides pro bono forensic medical evaluations to document physical and psychological effects of torture and ill-treatment for individuals seeking asylum as well as other forms of legal protection in the U.S (e.g. U-Visa, T-Visa, SIJS, VAWA, etc). We review requests at least monthly to determine if we are able to provide a forensic medical evaluation by a trained UCSF clinician. We will do our best to notify you as promptly as possible about whether we can accommodate your client for a medicolegal evaluation (psychological, physical or both). 

We use the Istanbul Protocol as our guide and work in partnership with you. If your case is chosen, we will prepare a pro bono affidavit to submit to you, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). 

Please submit only one referral per client. In advance, please provide all supporting documents. It is required to provide the client's declaration at the time of referral. For inquiries or urgent cases, contact us at [email protected] for clients over 25 years old, and [email protected] for clients who are 25 and below.  

Please click the referral button below to learn more about what types of cases we work with and what information is required in the referral. Thank you for your referrals. 

If you are in need of an attorney, please check out this list of compiled resources: https://immigrants.sfgov.org/help/asylum and https://www.immigrationadvocates.org. 

If you are a human rights advocate, or a service provider looking for more information about forensic medical evaluations, please see our Medicolegal Resources page.