Abstract: The Physicians for Human Rights Student Advisory Board (PHR SAB) is a national network of medical and other health professions students integrating human rights advocacy into healthcare training. Through student-led committees at medical schools, PHR SAB provides opportunities in direct service, policy advocacy, research, and education focusing on refugees, asylum seekers, and under-resourced communities.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Student Advisory Board (SAB) is a network of medical and health professions students united by a powerful goal: to advance health and dignity as fundamental human rights, and advocate for vulnerable and marginalized communities. Inspired by our lived experiences and a shared vision for social justice, PHR SAB creates meaningful, tangible opportunities for students to integrate human rights activism into their training and beyond—especially in serving refugees and people seeking asylum in the United States of America (USA).
The Mission: Human Rights at the Heart of Medical Training
Every year, medical students and trainees from across the USA and globally apply to join the Physicians for Human Rights Student Advisory Board. Guided by a core principle that health is a fundamental human right, the SAB exists to:
- Create a community of future leaders passionate about ending human rights violations.
- Provide resources and practical opportunities for students to engage with advocacy locally, nationally, and internationally.
- Foster a robust communication network between medical students, health professionals, and partner organizations to build collective capacity for social change.
- Empower marginalized voices, pursue justice, and inspire measurable transformation in both medical and humanitarian spaces.
The SAB operates according to a strong nondiscrimination policy and prioritizes inclusivity, equity, and diversity in all actions.
How PHR SAB Works: Student-Led Structure, Student-Driven Impact
Student-Led Structure
PHR SAB is led by two co-directors and driven by a network of committees made up of student members. Each committee focuses on pressing themes that intersect health and human rights—advocacy, asylum, children’s health, migration, research, policy, and more. Annual conferences, regular meetings, and cross-campus collaborations connect students, faculty, and professionals for dynamic advocacy and innovation.
Chapters Across Medical Schools
PHR SAB isn’t limited to a single institution. Medical schools nationally and internationally can establish PHR Chapters, forming a decentralized but connected alliance of students. Each chapter develops leaders and organizes campus-wide advocacy, education, research, and service, advancing the PHR SAB mission locally and nationally.
Committees Targeting Key Issues
The “heartbeat” of PHR SAB is the committee structure, enabling focus on critical human rights issues—including children’s health and refugee and asylee health. Some examples of committees and their missions include:
- Asylum Clinic Committee: Drives efforts to build, support, and sustain forensic medical evaluation clinics for asylum seekers, expanding capacity nationwide.
- Migration Committee: Educates and advocates for migrants, addressing unique health barriers and post-migration stressors.
- Children’s Health Committee: Protects and advances the rights and well-being of child refugees and asylum seekers.
- Policy, Advocacy, and Research Committees: Create evidence-based briefs, toolkits, research studies, and campaigns to change systems and practice.
For more detailed description of each committee, please visit our website: https://www.phrstudents.org/.
Goals and Deliverables: What We Do
Below are examples of how our student network transforms belief into action. The beauty of these committees is that they are student-driven. You have the ability to use your creativity and inspiration from events occurring in real-time to create new projects and collaborate with other committees or organizations.
1. Forensic Asylum Clinics: Direct Service and Legal Advocacy
PHR SAB’s Asylum Clinic Committee is a national leader in expanding student-staffed forensic evaluation clinics—a service vital to the legal documentation and medical care of refugees and asylum seekers. These clinics, operated in partnership with faculty, provide:
- Trauma-informed forensic medical and psychological evaluations for individuals seeking asylum—often decisive in legal outcomes.
- Education and training for students in trauma-sensitive interviewing, documentation, and advocacy skills.
- Research and quality improvement projects aimed at enhancing effectiveness and accessibility of services.
Initiatives are ongoing to increase the number of clinics across the country, build a collaborative network among existing clinics, and develop and share best practices.
2. Advocacy for Equitable Policy and Systemic Change
PHR SAB Advocacy, Policy, and Migration Committees champion policy changes impacting refugees, asylum applicants, and migrants. Efforts include:
- Drafting and disseminating policy briefs—such as briefs on immigration landscape shifts, access to care, legal protections, and detention conditions.
- Educational campaigns mobilizing students and healthcare professionals to contact legislators or engage in public awareness-raising.
- Collaborative projects with legal advocacy organizations, amplifying student voices on crucial issues.
This advocacy is both grassroots and national, allowing students to engage in legislative processes, media outreach, and organizational partnerships.
3. Children’s Health Initiatives
The Children’s Health Committee brings a child-centered lens to refugee/asylee health by:
- Conducting research on trauma exposure (Adverse Childhood Experiences, ACEs) and resilience among child asylum seekers.
- Implementing trauma severity assessment protocols in clinics—leading to publications and new approaches to care.
- Letter-writing and awareness campaigns on legislative topics like birthright citizenship and the welfare of children in detention.
Collaboration with research teams, conference presentations (e.g., at the American Academy of Pediatrics), and structured advocacy help translate findings into impact.
4. Education: Curriculum and Training for Future Human Rights Advocates
PHR SAB’s Curriculum Committee ensures that medical students gain foundational human rights advocacy competencies. Examples include:
- “Advocacy 101” speaker series—training students in the fundamentals of health policy change and refugee/asylee justice.
- Research projects evaluating and advocating for the inclusion of human rights content in medical school education.
- Resource sharing, workshops, and online modules addressing trauma-informed care, cultural humility, and legal-medical intersections.
Involvement in these efforts gives students direct experience, mentorship, and leadership opportunities in integrating advocacy into practice.
5. Research and Dissemination: Building an Evidence Base
PHR SAB recognizes that research is essential to improving refugee health and informing advocacy. The Research and Migration Committees:
- Conduct multi-site studies assessing post-migration stressors (e.g., legal status, housing insecurity, discrimination) using validated questionnaires, with pilot sites and national database expansion.
- Research translation access in healthcare—looking at pharmacy language services and impacts on medication safety for refugees with limited English.
- Disseminate findings through conferences, peer-reviewed publications, and media platforms, ensuring knowledge benefits policy, practice, and patient care.
Collaboration between student research teams and frontline clinicians bridges academic inquiry and community needs.
6. Media, Communications, and Storytelling
Through their Media and Human Rights Update Committees, PHR SAB:
- Amplifies the stories of asylum seekers, refugees, and advocates via podcasts, social media, newsletters, and public events.
- Hosts interviews with clinicians, legal partners, and people with lived experience, strengthening the visibility and impact of student-led advocacy.
From Interest to Action: A Blueprint for Health Professions Students
Countless students enter medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and allied healthcare motivated by a desire to serve vulnerable groups. Yet, many wonder how to act on those interests amid the constraints of clinical education. Here’s how PHR SAB helps students bridge that gap:
1. Translating Lived Experience into Leadership
PHR SAB’s open, application-based model invites participation from those with lived experience or a passion for justice. Student voices are elevated in every aspect: from leading committees, designing research, or founding a local chapter—lived experience becomes expertise, and leadership becomes advocacy in action.
2. Structuring Advocacy into Your Medical Education
Through PHR Chapters at medical schools, students can:
- Plan and host human-rights programs—lectures, training sessions, advocacy campaigns, or film screenings.
- Engage in direct service with forensic asylum clinics, research, or policy work.
- Build and sustain a human rights curriculum—partnering with faculty to develop electives or required modules on refugee and asylum medicine.
Each chapter is guided by the PHR SAB’s mission but tailored to the needs and aspirations of its student members and local communities.
3. Finding Mentorship and National Support
PHR SAB connects students with like-minded peers, experienced clinicians, and community partners nationwide. Annual conferences, webinars, research collaborations, and mentorship programs help students gain skills, confidence, and support on their journey.
4. Achieving Measurable Change
PHR SAB’s model emphasizes measurable deliverables for each committee and project. Students lead research to publication, brief legislators, testify at hearings, and implement new protocols in clinics—transforming compassion into sustainable, large-scale impact.
Conclusion: Human Rights Advocacy as a Core Competency
The future of healthcare depends on clinicians who see human rights not as an optional interest, but as an essential competency. PHR SAB, through its student-led, justice-driven model, gives medical and health professions students the skills, networks, and opportunities to integrate human rights into every phase of their education and careers.
If you are a student inspired by your own lived experiences or by a passion for refugee and asylee health, the path ahead is clear: Find or start a PHR chapter at your institution, join the advocacy, research, and direct service projects that animate our mission, and become part of a national movement for human rights in medicine.
To connect with us, learn more, or start a chapter on your campus, email the PHR SAB ([email protected]) or visit our website: https://www.phrstudents.org/.
