Volunteer Evaluators

Thomas Kalman, M.D. has been on the Cornell Medical Faculty for 40 years since the completion of his psychiatric training at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. A full Professor, Dr. Kalman has volunteered with WCCHR since 2011 and has been one of our Medical Directors since 2015. In addition to his full-time private practice of psychoanalysis and general psychiatry, he has worked with the FDNY treating survivors of the 9/11 attacks and has written widely on a broad range of topics, most recently about Split-care and communication between psychotherapists and prescribing psychiatrists. Dr. Kalman has recently been invited to serve as a reviewer for the journal, Torture, and his own research efforts have included papers on health care delivery, homophobia in the general hospital, and Internet Pornography. A frequent presenter at national and local meetings with more than 40 publications to his credit, Dr. Kalman also has a Master's Degree in Health Care Policy and Administration.

Gunisha Kaur, M.D. earned her B.S. from Cornell University in 2006, graduated from Weill Cornell Medical College in 2010, and completed her Anesthesiology Residency training at Weill Cornell Medical College/New York Presbyterian Hospital in 2014. She is an anesthesiologist specializing in international health and is leading the Department of Anesthesiology’s Global Health Initiative. She also serves as the Program Director for the Anesthesia Global Health Fellowship. Dr. Kaur holds a Master’s in Medical Anthropology from Harvard University. In 2008, she published the book Lost in History: 1984 Reconstructed, which documents human rights violations in South Asia.

Joanne Ahola, M.D. is board certified in psychiatry. She is Medical Director Emeritus of WCCHR and has served on the voluntary faculties of both Columbia and Weill Cornell and maintains a private practice in general and psychodynamic psychiatry. Dr. Ahola has been a member of the volunteer Asylum Network of Physicians for Human Rights since 2000, conducting psychological evaluations of asylum seekers with PHR and WCCHR. Dr. Ahola has trained health professionals and students around the country in evaluating and documenting the psychological effects of torture and other forms of persecution. She has particular expertise in LGBT asylum, the one year filing deadline, and testifying in court asylum hearings.

Ellen Arfin, LCSW. is a practicing psychotherapist in New York City. She received her BA from Cornell University in 1971, and her MSW in 1976 from Columbia University. Her work is informed by her psychoanalytic training, her interest in attachment theory and trauma studies. For many years she taught a course in human development at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. She was also faculty at the School for Visual Art, where she taught a course on psychological theories such as the psychology of the creative process. Ms. Arfin has presented on maternal hatred at various conferences and her paper, “Watching My Mother Die” was published in the Studies in Gender and Sexuality journal in 2011. Ms. Arfin joined WCCHR in 2017, where she continues to evaluate refugees seeking asylum in the United States. This work is particularly meaningful to her because it combines her clinical skills with her values of providing assistance to those seeking a safe haven in the United States.

Genevieve Bergeron, MD, MPH is a board-certified internist and medical epidemiologist. She earned a medical degree from Université Laval and a master’s degree in public health in environmental and occupational health from Harvard School of Public Health. She completed her residency training at Cambridge Health Alliance, an academic public healthcare system serving an immigrant and underserved population, before joining as a teaching hospitalist from 2013 to 2017. She trained in applied epidemiology as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epidemic Intelligence Service assigned to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

John Docherty, M.D. is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Attending Psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine, in Bethesda, Maryland, and External Assessor in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In addition he serves as an Executive Director on the Board of Directors of two companies he founded: Comprehensive Clinical Development and Care Management Technologies. Dr. Docherty also maintains a clinical practice in psychiatry. Dr. Docherty earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA, where he completed a rotating medical-psychiatric internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He served a psychiatry residency at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, followed by post-residency training in the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Docherty is a distinguished life fellow of the APA, Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, and past president of the Association for Clinical Psychosocial Research. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Award for Research from the National Association of Private Psychiatric Hospitals, and the Medical Director Leadership Award from the Psychiatric Institute of America. Dr. Docherty has had specific experience with PTSD. He worked for five years in the Yale-West Haven Veterans Hospital at the time of the Viet Nam War, authored an expert guideline on the treatment of PTSD and served as a consultant to the Government of Kuwait after the liberation of Kuwait following the invasion by Saddam Hussein.

Chelsea Dodgen, LCSW, is a psychotherapist specializing in recovery from trauma and violence. She received her MSW from the University of California, Berkeley and worked from 2006-2013 at the UCSF Trauma Recovery Center / Survivors International, where she treated victims of violent crimes and torture as well as those seeking asylum. From 2013-2017 she treated victims of terrorist attacks and those bereaved by homicide in greater London with ASSIST Trauma Care of the UK. While in London, Ms. Dodgen also co-founded and taught a yoga class and support group for homicide bereavement.

Terri Gallen Edersheim, M.D. is a Clinical Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal Fetal Medicine. She is an AOA graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at The New York Hospital. She then completed fellowship training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine before joining the faculty in 1986, where she has practiced both on the full time and voluntary faculties. She has participated in the evaluation of torture victims seeking asylum with HealthRight International and Physicians for Human Rights. Dr Edersheim has worked extensively with Victims of female genital cutting and sexual abuse, who are seeking asylum in the United States.

Angela Fairweather, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist specializing in the assessment and treatment of traumatic stress and related disorders, especially mood disturbance, anxiety, and addiction. Dr. Fairweather completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Florida (Tampa, Florida) and predoctoral internship training at Rutgers University Behavioral Healthcare (Newark, New Jersey). Dr. Fairweather also completed postdoctoral residency training in the assessment and treatment of acute and complex PTSD in the Women’s Program of Princeton Healthcare System (Princeton, New Jersey campus) and currently provides group psychotherapy services in this program (North Brunswick, New Jersey campus). Dr. Fairweather is a published researcher in the area of trauma and is particularly interested in the role of intimate relationships in mental health outcomes of trauma survivors.

Dominic Ferro, M.D. is a graduate of Emory Medical School, where he was a Woodruff Fellow. He trained in psychiatry at The New York Hospital-Westchester Division. He is on the faculty at Cornell Weill Medical College and at the NYU School of Medicine. He completed an Intensive Training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy. He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General and Forensic Psychiatry, as well as by the American Board of Adolescent Psychiatry. Dominic has served as the President of SAP, Inc, and he is a past President of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry. He is also a past President of the West Hudson Psychiatric Society, and he was recognized by the National Alliance on Mental Illness with the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

Ruth Gerson, M.D. is the Director of the Children's Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CCPEP) at Bellevue Hospital Center and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Gerson received her bachelor of arts in Biochemistry at Harvard University and received her medical degree at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her internship and general psychiatry training at the Cambridge Health Alliance-Harvard Medical School. She completed her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship and a public psychiatric fellowship at the NYU School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital Center. Dr. Gerson is board certified in both general and child and adolescent psychiatry.

Sarah Jane Grossbard, M.D. is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and completed her residency training at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and New York University Medical Center. Dr. Grossbard has been a member of the volunteer Asylum Network of Physicians for Human Rights since 2014, conducting psychological evaluations of asylum seekers. She has been in private practice since 2004.

Alka Gupta, M.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and is a hospitalist at Weill Cornell Medical Center and Lower Manhattan Hospital. She completed her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, her medical degree at Virginia Commonwealth University, and her residency in internal medicine at the University of Maryland. She is currently involved in teaching medical students and residents. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Integrative Medicine.

Rishab Gupta, is a Psychiatry resident at State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn. He finished his medical school training at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi in 2008. He subsequently did a residency in psychiatry from his alma mater. He was working at AIIMS for four years after graduating from the residency program when he decided to move to the US to receive additional training. He is very interested in the mental health issues of South Asian community and loves doing volunteer work.

Karen Hopenwasser, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical. She focuses on treating adults with complex PTSD/dissociative disorders, in which she has integrated the use of hypnosis and herbs. Her publications and presentations have focused on the clinical and neurobiological understanding of dissociative states, with special attention to innovative and integrative techniques for healing. She graduated from the Stony Brook School of Medicine (SUNY), and completed her residency training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is a Member of the NGO Committee on Mental Health in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations, where she represents the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD).

Shweta Iyer , MD is a pediatric emergency medicine attending at Weill Cornell-NYP. She has an interest in medical education and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Health Professions Education program at NYU. In 2018, Dr. Iyer went to Lebanon where she provided primary medical care to Syrian refugee children. She looks forward to getting more involved with asylum seekers and immigrant populations at WCCHR.

Carol L. Kessler, M.D., M.Div is a board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Church of America. Since returning from volunteering in El Salvador in 1987, she has been conducting asylum evaluations - with the Central American Refugee Committee, and later with Physicians for Human Rights. She is a volunteer with the longtermer's project of the Osborne Association, accompanying people who are serving long sentences for homicide-related offenses on their journey toward parole. She works as a community-based psychiatrist with Astor Services for Children in the Bronx and with Open Door Family Medical Centers in Westchester County. She has been on the faculty of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Columbia University.

Roy Laird, Ph.D, LCSW-R has worked in community mental health as a therapist, supervisor and director for 30 years, most recently as Director of Bronx Mental Health Services for Children's Aid. He also provides asylum applicants with assessments through HealthRight International's Human Rights Clinic.

Whitney Lieb, MD, MPH, is a board certified, attending physician in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has completed a fellowship in Global Women’s Health at the Icahn School of Medicine in which she focused on international residency training and health work force capacity. She is an active member of Physicians for Human Rights and a voluntary faculty member at the Mount Sinai Humans Rights Clinic and Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights, aiding victims of female genital mutilation, domestic violence and sex trafficking in their applications for asylum to the United States.

Nicole Mathew , P.A. works at New York Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia Campus. She earned her Masters in Medical Sciences from Yale School of Medicine in 2013 where she earned the highest distinction of Honors for her thesis in renal physiology. She has enjoyed practicing as a Hospitalist PA ever since. Nicole holds a passion for human rights and has been involved with multiple disaster relief projects through the years.

Zahra Mehdi Malik, M.D. was born in the Middle East and grew up surrounded by an array of cultures. She completed her anesthesiology residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and a fellowship in cardiothoracic anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She has participated in voluntary medical work in Tanzania and the Dominican Republic throughout her training. She currently serves as an instructor at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City and specializes in cardiothoracic anesthesiology.

Debora Munczek, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice with a specialty in psychosocial and mental health aspects of human rights violations. She treats, trains and consults about psychosocial traumas. She has worked at the International Trauma Studies Program at New York University, the Bellevue Hospital–NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, Doctors of the World’s Human Rights Clinic, the Assistance to Torture Survivors Project of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, and other institutions and organizations in the United States and in Latin America. She has been a volunteer evaluator for Physicians for Human Rights’ Asylum Network since 1997. She has also served as an expert witness before the Inter-American Human Rights Court of the Organization of American States and was a Fulbright Scholar in Honduras where she worked with several human rights organizations, and researched and taught about these issues. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and an MSW from New York University.

Joseph F Murray III, M.D. is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Scranton, where he majored in Biology, English, and Philosophy. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, he completed hisinternship at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and residency in Psychiatry at the Payne Whitney Clinic of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Murray worked as a psychiatrist at the New York Presbyterian Hospital's Center for Special Studies (CSS), a multi-disciplinary clinic for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, from 1999-2010. At Weill Cornell Medical College, he is the director of the Medicine Patients Society I course. He is also the associate director for the Psychiatry clerkship. He is a consulting psychiatrist on the Heart Failure/Heart Transplant service at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He has a particular interest in working with medical students in asylum evaluation and has been a strong supporter of the educational component of WCCHR.

Deborah Ottenheimer, M.D. is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and was awarded the Paul Stolley Award in Clinical Epidemiology for her work on family planning practices in Cameroon, West Africa. Dr. Ottenheimer completed her residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at St.Lukes/Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. Dr. Ottenheimer went on to be an attending physician at Bronx Lebanon Hospital; later becoming Director of adolescent OB/GYN services and co-Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Health Program. Dr. Ottenheimer is currently the Director of the Women’s Holistic Health Initiative at Harlem United/ URAM, Nest Community Health Center where she is focused on the development and implementation of a multispecialty medical service for women and girls affected by Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting. Dr. Ottenheimer also maintains a private practice as part of Maiden Lane Medical where she provides gynecologic care for women and girls throughout their lives, with a particular focus on adolescents and young adults, as well as survivors of sexual trauma. In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Ottenheimer spends a significant portion of her professional time assisting asylum-seeking women who have suffered human rights violations. Dr. Ottenheimer serves as faculty at the Human Rights Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Weill Cornell Clinic for Human Rights, and the CUNY School of Medicine Human Rights Collaborative aiding victims of female genital mutilation/cutting, domestic violence, and sex trafficking in their applications for asylum. She has published and lectured extensively on human rights violations against women, with a focus on Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting. She has also worked in Haiti, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of Congo, helping to improve the health and lives of women in low resource settings.

Chiti Parikh, M.D. is a board certified internist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Hospital Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. She is an AOA graduate of the Robertwood Johnson Medical School and completed her residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital – Cornell campus. Currently she is involved in teaching medical students and residents. She has worked on projects involving sexual education, HIV awareness and sexual violence among adolescents and sex workers in India.

Nishant Patel, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist with the Trauma Services department at the Washington DC VA Medical Center and provides individual therapy at Fort Belvoir to veterans afflicted with traumatic stress. Dr. Patel completed his doctorate in clinical psychology at Widener University and his post-doctoral fellowship while working with Heartland Alliance in Kurdistan (Northern Iraq). In his role with Heartland Alliance, Dr. Patel conducted training and delivering technical assistance to local mental health paraprofessionals, therapy to Iraqi survivors of torture and managing programs. Prior to his position at DC VAMC, Dr. Patel served as the program coordinator and later acting director of the Cross-Cultural Counseling Center at the International Institute of New Jersey, providing treatment to survivors of torture seeking political asylum, international human trafficking survivors and immigrant survivors of domestic violence. Dr. Patel’s professional interests primarily include trauma work and cultural psychology.

Vivian B. Pender, M.D. is a faculty member of Columbia and Cornell Medical Schools where she is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry. She has training in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis. She teaches medical students, residents and psychoanalytic candidates. She is a Trustee of the American Psychiatric Association. She is the Main Representative to the UN of the International Psychoanalytical Association since 2009. She chaired the NGO Committee on the Status of Women in New York, from 2007-2011, a coalition of 85 NGOs in consultative relationship with the United Nations. She has been President of professional organizations including the NY District Branch of the American Psychiatric Association and the Payne Whitney Faculty Council. She volunteered with a NYC mental health team that treats homeless people with mental illness. She is a member of the New York City Medical Reserve Corps. She spent a year in Africa where she visited medical missions and is a psychiatric consultant at the United Nations. She has authored papers on affect, motivation, pregnancy, female psychology and women’s health. She is the Editor of a forthcoming book on Women and Psychoanalysis: an International and Political Perspective. From 2006-2013 she produced four documentary films of UN conferences on violence, global health, mental disability, and human rights. She is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Manhattan.

Matthew Pius, M.D. is board-certified with the American Board of Emergency Medicine and currently practices in multiple emergency departments in the New York City area. He graduated from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed a residency at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. He has been conducting medical evaluations for asylum-seekers with Physicians for Human Rights since 2004 and joined the WCCHR team in 2015.

Devon Rupley, M.D. is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology as well as an assistant attending physician at the Columbia University Medical Center. She completed her residency training in NYC at Columbia University. She has experience working to improve health outcomes for women in underserved communities both in the United States and abroad in Ghana and Malawi. She is passionate about medical education, and is dedicated to training future physicians to care for women in the most vulnerable times of their lives.

Fred Schwartz, M.D. is a board certified physician in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care. He was a Hospice Medical Director and Hospice Physician for 31 years. He is a founding member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and serves on the Board of Directors of End of Life Choices NY. He was featured in the HBO documentary “Letting Go: A Hospice Journey”. He has served as a volunteer Hospice Physician on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Dr. Schwartz served as Medical Director in two Emergency Departments in Manhattan between 1975 and 1985, establishing the first paramedic program in a non-municipal hospital in NYC. He trained more than 200 NYC EMTs to become paramedics. He was one of the founding physicians who established medical guidelines for pre-hospital care for EMS in NYC.

Ariel Shidlo, Ph.D. is a clinical/community psychologist. He practices cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Since 2005, he has been a volunteer for the Asylum Network of Physicians for Human Rights and conducted psychological evaluations of person fleeing persecution and survivors of torture. He has a Certificate in Global Mental Health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. He is a member of Psychologists for Social Responsibility. He is co-founder of the Research Institute Without Walls (riww.org) where he does research on the impact of human rights violations on the mental health of LGBT persons. Dr. Shidlo speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Hebrew.

Eilon Shomron-Atar, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Manhattan. Eilon completed his doctorate at The Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, at Adelphi University in New York. He specializes in helping people who have experienced loss, neglect, or abuse and/or are struggling with intense and painful anxiety, fear, sadness, despair, and a lack of meaning or direction. In his clinical sensibility, Eilon combines a strong background in Gender and Cultural Studies with Clinical Psychology, interweaving an awareness of the impact of social dimension on the vitality of life with the need to address the particular struggles of people in their immediate lives in ways that are emotionally-socially transformative.

Jill Silverman, M.D. is a board certified internist and rheumatologist who has been in clinical practice for over 30 years. Dr. Silverman did her undergraduate training at Brown University and medical education at Yale University. She completed her residency at Yale- New Haven Hospital and completed her rheumatology fellowship at the NIH and Georgetown University. Dr. Silverman has practiced in San Diego, Ca , Chapel Hill, NC and returned to New York City in 2003. She spends most of her time in a private practice on Madison Ave and 59th street but has a clinical affiliation with Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons where she has spent about 6 weeks a year teaching medical students in their medicine clerkship rotation. In the past Dr. Silverman has been medical director of 2 hospital based domestic violence intervention programs and has provided expert witness testimony of the clinical effects of strangulation.

Ellen Simpao, M.D. is a clinical psychologist who is an adjunct assistant professor and on staff in the counseling center at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and she has a private practice in Manhattan. At FIT, Dr. Simpao developed workshops and groups for international, study abroad, and “first generation to go to college” students. She also created a diversity awareness program and advises FIT’s peer educators. In her private practice, Dr. Simpao specializes in Asian American mental health, as well as clinical hypnosis, especially for anxiety and pain management, smoking cessation, and other health conditions. Her particular interests include inter-generational and cultural issues and parent-child separation due to immigration. In her spare time, she is involved in helping sanctuary families and other non-profits, the Reach Out and Read program, and she performs hip hop dance.

Jillian M. Stile, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist who earned her doctorate from the New School for Social Research, her Master’s degree in Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine from Boston University School of Medicine, and her Master’s degree in Psychology from The New School for Social Research. Dr. Stile completed a psychoanalytic fellowship at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, where she is currently a candidate in training for Adult Psychoanalysis. Dr. Stile has extensive training and experience in work with adolescents and young adults in a variety of inpatient, outpatient and correctional settings. She regularly visits India where she consults with the mental health staff at Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO that addresses the needs of street and working children in Delhi and elsewhere in India. She teaches in the School of Human Studies at Ambedkar University of Delhi. Dr. Stile serves as a Clinical Associate at the New School for Social Research; she maintains a private practice in Manhattan.

Anna Suessbrick, Ph.D. is a faculty member with the NYU Langone Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry. She completed her doctorate at the New School for Social Research in New York, NY, and trained at the Portland (Oregon) VA Medical Center, where she worked with veterans with PTSD. For most of her career, she has maintained a specialty in psychological assessment for the purposes of public safety suitability, legal consultation, neuropsychological function, and psychiatric diagnosis. In addition, from 2007– 2012, she was a member of a practice in Seattle, WA, that specialized in the LGBTQ population. Currently, she is involved in research at NYULMC that aims to identify biomarkers of posttraumatic stress disorder. In this role, she conducts comprehensive diagnostic interviews with combat veterans and civilian survivors of trauma.

Sheida Tabaie, M.D. is a board-certified anesthesiologist with sub-specialty board-certification in critical care medicine. Dr. Tabaie earned her M.D. at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and did her residency training and critical care fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Following her fellowship, Dr. Tabaie pursued further training in global health through the Department of Anesthesiology Global Health Fellowship at Weill Cornell. Currently, Dr. Tabaie works as both an anesthesiologist and an intensivist in the Cardiothoracic ICU at Weill Cornell.

Patricia Tidwell, PhD, LCSW has been in private practice for over 20 years. She works primarily with individuals and is an EMDR practitioner. She is faculty and clinical supervisor at Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center and Institute for Expressive Analysis, both in Manhattan. Having lived and worked in different cultures, Dr. Tidwell has a particular interest in how culture influences the ways that women experience themselves in the world. Her dissertation explored the relationship between women’s sense of self, agency, and ambition.

Gabriel Tudose, M.D. is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Weil Cornell Medical College. He earned his medical degree from “Carol Davila” School of Medicine in Bucharest. Dr. Tudose completed his Psychiatry residency at Chicago Medical School where he served as Chief Resident for Medical Student Education for two consecutive years. He then went to complete his Fellowship in Sleep Medicine at the University of Michigan. In addition, Dr. Tudose completed his Advanced Adult Psychoanalytic Training at The Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. He has worked extensively with the LGBT population. Dr Tudose is Board-certified in Psychiatry, and Sleep Medicine.

Margot Weinshel , R.N., L.C.S.W. started as a psychiatric nurse about 40 years ago and was fortunate to be in a day hospital that promoted family therapy. It was still a fairly new type of therapy with about five other psychiatric nurses. After this she got her M.S.W. at Hunter and served on the faculty of The Ackerman Institute for the Family. Now Ms. Weinshel is a clinical instructor in the department of psychiatry at the NYU Medical Center. She was part of a group of people who started the Infertility Project at Ackerman to see what infertility could do to couples. Out of that project came a book, “Couple Therapy for Infertility.” Even after her colleagues went on to other projects, Ms. Weinshel continued on as an active member of the Mental Health Group of the American Society for Reproduction. After September 11, 2001, Ms. Weinshel learned EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing), to work with trauma patients.

Timothy J. Williamson, Ph.D., MPH is a clinical health psychologist, specializing in the psychological and social aspects of living with chronic illnesses such as cancer. Dr. Williamson completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles and predoctoral internship training at Weill Cornell Medical College/NY-Presbyterian Hospital/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Williamson has also received specialized training in public health and has collaborated with several non-profit organizations to develop and deliver health-based services to men and women living with HIV, the LGBTQ+ community, and survivors of sexual assault, among others. Dr. Williamson is a published researcher in the area of coping with chronic illness and maintains an active program of research, which aims to characterize how psychological and social factors, such as social stigma, contribute to psychological and physical health.