Two Local Med Students Form Human Rights Center

Two second-year medical students, Rebecca E. Alschuler and Musaub Khan, have received the Phelps Leadership Award, given annually by the Phelps Family Medicine Residency Program. Started in 2011, the award recognizes students who demonstrate a commitment to leadership, primary care, and service to their communities.

Alschuler and Khan founded the New York Medical College Center for Human Rights to serve as an umbrella organization for local initiatives fostering human rights. The first project is a free, student-led medical clinic for underserved patients, particularly asylum-seekers. The pair were inspired to start the clinic after visiting a similar one at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

“We went to a training at the Weill Cornell Community Clinic and it was this amazing experience,” recalls Khan. “I distinctly remember Rebecca saying, ‘You know, it would be really great if we could do this at our school,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this!’”

Over the summer, with the help from experts at My Sister’s Place, Open Door Family Medical Centers and Physicians for Human Rights, Alschuler and Khan learned that Westchester is an area in great need of legal and medical support for victims of human trafficking. A free community clinic will help address the need for quality medical care, as well as provide education for medical students and engagement in service and teaching for clinical professors.

Treating asylum seekers requires a specific protocol. Physician-professors from New York Medical College will provide the medical examinations, accompanied by a medical student who will be responsible for drafting a medical affidavit. The affidavit corroborates an asylum-seeker’s story of abuse, based on concrete medical evidence. Once the volunteer physician signs off on the affidavit, it is passed on to the client’s legal team.

Alschuler and Khan have designed the Center for Human Rights with a long-term vision in mind. They are recruiting an executive board through a rigorous application process and have created an organizational structure that will support the center’s programs during transition periods when students graduate each year. Eventually, the center will offer educational lectures and workshops on human rights issues at various medical facilities in the area.

“We also want to ensure that our patients receive continuing care after their initial evaluations,” says Alschuler. “They will be plugged into the healthcare system so if they have any future health problems they know where they can go to get care at an affordable price.”

The New York Medical College Center for Human Rights will open on October 27th on the campus at New York Medical College.