Join us for an evening dedicated to addressing the global, systemic complicity around the lack of health care for refugees and immigrants. We hope you will join us in driving the conversation and inspiring solutions.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The event is free; advance registration is required.
Across the globe, millions of migrants, immigrants, and refugees face displacement, detention, and systemic barriers to health care. The medical and psychological consequences are profound, and the structural forces guiding them demand our collective attention and action. Together, we will explore what it means to confront complicity, build solidarity across disciplines, and strengthen equitable clinical care and advocacy.
Advocacy in Medicine (AIM), the organizing body behind this conference, is the only student-member directed workgroup at New York Academy of Medicine. Health professionals working at the intersection of medicine, public health, and human rights cannot afford to work in isolation. This event will be a space for shared knowledge, honest dialogue, and urgent action.
Andrew Milewski, MD, PhD
Dr. Milewski is an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and a medical director of the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights. He also directs the Medical-Legal Core of Weill Cornell’s Human Rights Impact Lab, where his work bridges medical and legal services for forcibly displaced populations. His research has examined human rights abuses experienced by refugees and asylum seekers, post-migration determinants of health, chronic pain among survivors of torture, and health outcomes among forcibly displaced children.
Joanne Ahola, MD, DLFAPA
Dr. Ahola is a psychiatrist and longtime advocate for asylum seekers and survivors of persecution. She is medical director emeritus of the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights and has worked with the Physicians for Human Rights Asylum Network since 1999. Her work includes forensic psychiatric evaluations, expert testimony, physician and medical student education, and research addressing the mental health needs of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. She has also served as a national trainer for clinicians conducting asylum evaluations.
Chanelle Diaz, MD, MPH
Dr. Diaz is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and medical director for internal medicine primary care at the Charles Rangel Community Health Center. Her work focuses on immigrant health equity, particularly the health consequences of immigration detention. She conducts forensic medical evaluations for people in immigration detention and asylum seekers and has published research examining detention-related health harms. In 2026, she received the Bernard Lown Award for Social Responsibility in recognition of her leadership in immigrant health, human rights advocacy, research, and medical education.
Mentalla Ismail, MPH
Ms. Ismail is a Doctor of Public Health candidate at NYU School of Global Public Health. She earned her BS in Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati, where she founded Refuge-UC, a student organization focused on mitigating educational barriers refugee students face after resettlement. Ms. Ismail later earned her MPH in Public Health with a Global Health concentration from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, completing her master’s thesis on refugee health literacy while developing a study to evaluate the functional and comprehensive health literacy rates of adult Syrian refugees. Following her MPH, she expanded Refuge-UC into Refuge Collaborative, a non-profit organization focused on creating education accessibility for refugee students through mentorship, where she now serves as executive director.
Anjoli Anand, MD, MPH
Dr. Anand is a public health professional and board-certified Emergency Medicine physician with experience across clinical medicine, global health, epidemiology, and humanitarian response. She began working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 2019 as international staff and currently serves as the Non-Communicable Disease Advisor for MSF France, providing technical and strategic support to programs across South Asia, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean. Her work focuses on strengthening the delivery of care for non-communicable diseases in complex humanitarian and resource-limited settings. Prior to her current role, Dr. Anand practiced emergency medicine in New York City hospitals and served as an epidemic intelligence service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Malaria Branch.
April Castillo, MD
Dr. Castillo is a physician at Summit Health/CityMD, is board-certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health, and works in Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine. Her work focuses on maternal and infant health with an emphasis on decreasing health disparities. Specifically, she works to improve breastfeeding and chestfeeding support for parent-infant dyads to increase breastfeeding rates and prevent death and chronic disease among infants and birthing parents. Prior to her current role, Dr. Castillo served at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University as a LINCATS-K12 Awardee, clinical assistant professor, and course director for Race, Racism and Health, and Women and Gender Minorities Population Health. She currently maintains a voluntary faculty appointment in the Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine.