Asylum 

Committee Members

About Us

2025-2026 Asylum Clinic Committee Mission Statement: To protect and ensure the right to asylum throughout the country by increasing the capacity of asylum clinics nationwide, fostering collaboration, and supporting asylum seekers in their legal claims to asylum.

What is an asylum clinic? 

An asylum clinic housed at a medical school is a student-run program that connects Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)-trained clinicians to political asylum seekers and their attorneys. These clinicians conduct forensic medical or mental health evaluations to uncover signs and sequelae of torture or trauma and document their findings in affidavits that serve as evidence in the client’s legal application for asylum.

To find current PHR-associated asylum clinics, click here. 

If you would like to start an asylum clinic or would like more information, please download our Asylum Clinic Guide.

Please reach out to the PHR Asylum Committee for any questions: phr.asylumrefugee@gmail.com

What is an asylum clinic? 

An asylum clinic housed at a medical school is a student-run program that connects Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)-trained clinicians to political asylum seekers and their attorneys. These clinicians conduct forensic medical or mental health evaluations to uncover signs and sequelae of torture or trauma and document their findings in affidavits that serve as evidence in the client’s legal application for asylum.

To find current PHR-associated asylum clinics, click here. 

If you would like to start an asylum clinic or would like more information, please download our Asylum Clinic Guide.

Please reach out to the PHR Asylum Committee for any questions: phr.asylumrefugee@gmail.com

INTRODUCTORY ASYLUM MEDICINE CURRICULUM 

The Physicians for Human Rights Student Advisory Board is proud to announce the launch of  a free introductory asylum medicine online curriculum for medical students and health professionals interested in conducting forensic medical and psychiatric evaluations. Completion of this training will prepare you to perform forensic evaluations independently or at PHR-affiliated asylum clinics.

This online curriculum was created by the Asylum Medicine Training Initiative and sponsored by the Cambridge Health Alliance, UCSF, PHR, the Society of Asylum Medicine, and Johns Hopkins. 

REGISTER

List of Modules

1. Historical Legal Background

2. Trauma Informed Interview

3. Forensic Mental Health Evaluation

4. Forensic Physical Evaluation

5. Affidavit Writing & Testifying

6. Pediatric Forensic Evaluations

7. Sexual & Gender-Based Violence

8. Traumatic Brain Injury

9. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Asylum

10. Evaluations in Detention

11. Vicarious Trauma & Resilience