A student-run asylum health clinic at UMass Chan Medical School relaunched earlier this year to highlight its affiliation with the Medical School and its interdepartmental collaboration.
Through coordination with one of the group’s faculty advisors, Payal Modi, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine, and Kamlyn Haynes, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry, the group officially changed its name from the Worcester Asylum Clinic to the UMass Chan Human Rights and Asylum Program.
“Receiving nonprofit status through our affiliation with UMass Chan makes us eligible for more grants and other funding. The formal status will help solidify us in the Worcester community and build more partnerships with other organizations that are serving the same population. Moving forward, we will be an established resource that people know to go to for asylum seekers who are looking for services,” said Dylan Rice, the clinic’s director of operations and a rising second-year medical student.
The group helps provide forensic medical evaluations for immigration lawyers who are advocating for people to claim asylum in the United States by connecting them with affiliated clinicians.
“Lawyers will have clients who are seeking asylum and would benefit from a physical or psychological forensic evaluation that will help corroborate the story that they are telling in court. It can significantly help their court case if they can get an evaluation for their clients from a clinician,” said clinical coordinator Reef Al-Asad, a rising second-year medical student.
Outreach coordinator Liz Irvin, a rising second-year medical student, cited a 2021 study that found there was a significant increase in favorable outcomes when asylum seekers received evaluations from organizations like the UMass Chan Human Rights and Asylum Program.
“It’s a powerful testament to how important it is that we have medical expertise backing up the clients’ stories in court,” Irvin said. “Lawyers try to incorporate these evaluations whenever they can, not just in the cases where they need something to be explained away, but because it helps give a fuller picture of someone’s experience.”
The UMass Chan Human Rights and Asylum Program started seeing clients in 2020. Since then, they have worked with more than 100 asylum seekers in the area.
“A big part of our work is understanding the landscape of the other organizations in Worcester that are involved in supporting asylum seekers, not just for their actual trial and their evaluation, but around all the needs that they might have, as they navigate the process,” Irvin said.
Fourth-year medical student Omar Taweh, one of the clinic’s senior advisors, said because of the group’s affiliation with UMass Chan and the Department of Emergency Medicine, research is a large part of what the group’s members do and there has been research published by several of the group’s members from work that has been performed under the umbrella of the program.
“The research has ranged from doing asylum work virtually—including writing affidavits and interviewing people—to how the pandemic has affected asylum seekers and how institutions can make their programs more robust for students,” Taweh said.
The group also facilitates events, lectures, and educational opportunities on topics like medical apartheid, policing and violence in the Greater Worcester area for students and community members.
Next steps for the program include expanding its education and recruitment at UMass Memorial Medical Center to include residents and fellows in psychiatry, psychology and family medicine. Additionally, the clinic has a growing network of UMass Chan student volunteers working as “scribes,” who transcribe each evaluation in its entirety for the purpose of providing clinicians and lawyers with the full picture of each individual asylum seeker.
The UMass Chan Human Rights and Asylum Program is actively seeking providers and students to join their network of volunteers. For additional information about volunteering or upcoming events, send an email to UMassMedAsylumClinic@umassmed.edu.
