|
Open Plenary
Session - Thursday, May 24, 2007 (9am-12pm):
Martha E. Newton was appointed as the Director of
the Office of Refugee Resettlement on February 27, 2006.
In this capacity she directs all assistance that
supports refugee resettlement within the United States
and is committed to strengthening programs to ensure
that refugees and others eligible can participate fully
in society and achieve economic self sufficiency.
Prior to her appointment at the Department of Health and
Human Services, Ms. Newton was the Deputy Under
Secretary for International Affairs at the United States
Department of Labor. Appointed to this position in May,
2005, she led the formulation of international economic,
trade and labor policies on behalf of the United States
Department of Labor. From 2002, she also served as the
Associate Deputy Under Secretary and the Chief of Staff
for the International Labor Affairs Bureau.
Ms. Newton brings a wealth of experience to the Office
of Refugee Resettlement, with special expertise in areas
of human trafficking, forced labor and violent crime
victimization. From 1995 to 2002, Ms. Newton was the
Chief of the Crime Victim Services Division for Illinois
Attorney General Jim Ryan, where she was responsible for
administering grant programming and designing technical
assistance strategies that supported victims of violent
crime within the state of Illinois.
An active volunteer and distance running enthusiast, Ms.
Newton has served on the Board of the Junior League of
Chicago and has successfully completed numerous marathon
and ultra marathon events in the United States and
Canada.
Ms. Newton is a graduate of Western Kentucky University,
where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Arts
in 1989 and 1991 respectively. Ms. Newton lives in
Oakton, Virginia with her husband, Paul and their five
year old son, Heath.
* * *
Richard F. Mollica, M.D., M.A.R. is the Director of the
Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma (HPRT) of
Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of
Psychiatry Harvard Medical School http://www.hprt-cambridge.org.
He received his medical degree from the University of
New Mexico and completed his Psychiatry residency at
Yale Medical School. While at Yale he also trained in
epidemiology and received a philosophy degree from the
Divinity School. In 1981, Dr. Mollica co-founded the
Indochinese Psychiatry Clinic (IPC). Over the past two
decades HPRT and IPC have pioneered the mental health
care of survivors of mass violence and torture. HPRT/IPC's
clinical model has been replicated throughout the world.
Dr. Mollica has received numerous awards for his work
and is the author of the newly published book Healing
Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a
Violent World. In 1993, he received the human rights
award from the American Psychiatric Association. In
1996, the American Orthopsychiatry Association presented
him with the Max Hymen Award. In 2000 he was awarded a
visiting professorship to Waseda University, Tokyo,
Japan, for his contributions during the Kobe earthquake.
In 2001 he was selected as a Fulbright New Century
scholar. Under Dr. Mollica's direction, HPRT conducts
training, policy and research activities for traumatized
populations around the world. HPRT's screening
instruments are considered a gold standard in the field
and have been widely translated into over thirty
languages. The group's recent epidemiological studies
have demonstrated for the first time the chronic
disability and mortality associated with the mental
health sequelae of mass violence. HPRT's scientific work
has helped place mental health issues at the center of
the recovery of post-conflict societies.
* * *
Robert Weigl, Ph.D., is a clinical and cross-cultural
psychologist who has worked with Boat People SOS over
the past four years in a variety of areas, including
staff training and evaluating the needs of Vietnamese
prison camp survivors and their family members. He has
worked extensively also with the Latino community in
Northern Virginia. With his B.A. (summa cum laude) from
Princeton University and M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical
Psychology from the University of Michigan, Dr. Weigl
has been involved in primary care in mental health for
38 years with leadership roles in Fairfax County and as
director, since 1981, of an independent mental health
clinic he founded and heads in Alexandria. He currently
consults to an international education program at the
University of Virginia and has taught psychology at
Kyoto National University in Japan, the University of
Pittsburgh, Georgetown University, George Mason
University, and George Washington University. He
recently was selected to write an undergraduate
cross-cultural psychology text for Cambridge University
Press.
* * *
Lunch - Thursday, May 24th @ 1:00pm
Senator Jim Webb graduated from the Naval Academy in
1968, receiving the Superintendent's Commendation for
outstanding leadership contributions while being a
midshipman. He subsequently chose a commission in the
Marine Corps. Senator Webb was first in his class of 243
at the Marine Corps Officers' Basic School in Quantico,
VA. He served with the Fifth Marine Regiment in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, he was a rifle platoon and company commander
in the infamous An Hoa Basin, west of Danang. He was
awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two
Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts.
Senator Webb received his J.D. at Georgetown University
Law Center in 1975. He served in the US Congress as
counsel to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs from
1977 to 1981. In 1984, Senator Webb was appointed the
inaugural Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve
Affairs. In 1987, he became the first Naval Academy
graduate in history to serve in the military and then
become Secretary of the Navy.
Senator Webb now serves as the junior Senator from
Virginia. He serves on the Committee on Foreign
Relations, Committee on Armed Services, Committee on
Veterans Affairs, and the Joint Economic Committee. He
is an original co-sponsor of bills that pertain to
stronger ethics rules, the recommendations of the 9/11
Commission, prescription drug pricing negations, stem
cell research, college affordability, energy/global
warming, and rebuilding the military. He speaks
Vietnamese and has done extensive pro bono work with the
Vietnamese community dating from the late 1970's. He is
currently married to Hong Le Webb, a Vietnamese native,
and a proud father to 6 children.
* * *
Dinner Banquet - Thursday, May 24th @7pm
Congressman Chris Smith:
As a Member of the United States House of
Representatives from New Jersey , Chris Smith has
championed the rights and interests of many - from
children forced to toil in sweatshops to women kidnapped
and sold into lives of prostitution to unborn children
whose opportunity for life is threatened. Congressman
Chris Smith has dedicated his life to protecting human
rights and helping the world’s most vulnerable.
Chris Smith has represented the citizens of New Jersey
's Fourth Congressional District since 1981, when he was
sworn into office at the age of 27. Throughout his 25
years of service, he has established himself as one of
the hardest-working, most compassionate and dedicated
members of the House.
A nationally and internationally renowned leader in
Congress, particularly in the areas of: human rights,
religious freedom, veterans’ affairs and healthcare.
Smith is an equally passionate local advocate who
tirelessly applies his energy toward meeting local and
state challenges.
As a champion of global human rights since being elected
to Congress, Smith is a senior member of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee and Ranking Republican of the
Committee's Africa and Global Health Subcommittee.
Chris Smith also serves as a Ranking Member of the
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also
known as the United States Helsinki Commission), which
works to promote and foster democracy, human rights, and
stability in Eastern and Central Europe .
One of Smith’s significant legislative achievements is
his landmark Victims of Trafficking and Violence
Protection Law, the nations' first law that deals
specifically with human trafficking. In January, 2006,
President Bush signed Smith’s third trafficking law –
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2005. Smith
authored the legislation to strengthen the nation’s
current trafficking law, provide new funds for
investigation and prosecution of domestic trafficking
within the United States and to help the young women and
children who are most often the victims of human
trafficking operations. This bill will provide $361
million over the next two years to combat trafficking.
Chris Smith has steadfastly defended the rights of
refugees. Thanks to his intervention, the Resettlement
Opportunity for Vietnamese Refugees program was
established in 1995 and has since resettled over 18,000
boat people after their coerced repatriation to Vietnam
. He then introduced legislation to extend and expand
the “McCain” Amendment, which facilitates the
resettlement of adult children of “re-education” camp
survivors. Since 1996 he has advocated for the
resumption of the Humanitarian Operation (HO) program
for re-education camp survivors and the Priority One
program for victims of on-going persecution in Vietnam .
Both programs are operational. In 2001 his Victims of
Trafficking and Violence Protection Act helped bring to
the U.S. over 200 Vietnamese and Chinese victims from a
sweatshop in the American Samoa . This became the
largest human trafficking case ever prosecuted by the
Federal government. Smith has visited refugees in Hong
Kong camps, met with dissidents in Vietnam , and secured
the release of many Vietnamese political prisoners.
* * *
After Lunch - Friday, May 25th @1:00pm
Susan Salasin is the Director for the Women and Violence
Program and Director of Mental Health and Criminal
Justice Program for the Center for Mental Health
Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), HHS. For the past three
decades, Dr. Salasin has held positions at the National
Institute of Mental Health and the Center for Mental
Health Services in SAMHSA. Her specialty program
responsibilities are in the areas of organizational
change, services for persons with mental illness in the
criminal justice system, and services for victims of
crime and violence.
Dr. Salasin was a founding member for the American
Evaluation Association, the International Society for
Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Knowledge Utilization
Society. She has authored a number of chapters and
papers on the A VICTORY model of organizational change.
She served as the Editorial Director of the federally
sponsored "EVALUATION: A Forum for Human Services
Decision-Makers," a magazine that grew to an audience of
over 50,000 subscribers. In addition, she served as the
Chair of the World Federation for Mental Health
Scientific Committee on the Mental Health Needs of
Vicitims of Violence, and provided testimony for the
President's Task Force on Crime Victims for the USA, and
for the United Nations Center for Humanitarian Affairs
on the development of the original United Nations
Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims
of Crime and Abuse of Power.
Dr. Salasin was Co-Editor of the book, THE MENTAL HEALTH
OF WOMEN, (Guttentag, Salasin, and Belle), and Editor of
the book, EVALUATING VICTIM SERVICES. In addition, she
has written two chapters on women's violence and trauma
for the INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK OF TRAUMATIC STRESS
"Developing Service for Victims of Violence: The "Case"
Against Women," and a chapter in SERVING MENTALLY ILL
OFFENDERS "Overview: Working with Women in Jails -
Developing A Gender-Based Network of Services for
Strengthening Women and Their Families."
Dr. Salasin co-directed a five year SAMHSA "Women,
Co-occurring Disorder, and Violence" national project.
This project was a "first of its kind" to establish the
efficacy of trauma-informed care and trauma-integrated
services in facilitating recovery from violence and
trauma. She also developed and launched a broad
knowledge utilization program on the results from the
"Women and Violence" study, that involved multiple
national organizations in a coordinated initiative to
foster widespread use of the findings from this project.
She created also and currently serves as Federal Project
Officer for the "CMHS National Center on Trauma-Informed
Care," a four year initiative to provide trauma
education and technical assistance to publicly funded
systems.
* * *
Closing Plenary Session - Saturday, May 26th @9:30am
David Anderson, Ph.D. serves as a Professor and
Director, Center for the Advancement of Public Health,
School of Recreation, Health and Tourism, College of
Education and Human Development, at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Virginia. He serves as project
director and researcher on numerous national, state and
local projects, teaches graduate and undergraduate
courses on a range of health issues, conducts needs
assessments and evaluations, and assists with strategic
planning. His work emphasizes promoting maximum health
among youth, adults, and seniors; he works school and
community leaders, program planners, and policy makers.
Specialty areas include health promotion, strategic
planning and mobilization, communication and education,
and needs assessment and evaluation. He has produced,
moderated or served as a guest on several television
programs.
Dr. Anderson works with individuals and organizations to
promote healthy choices and effective programmatic
initiatives. He has worked on numerous projects with
federal agencies (the U.S. Departments of Education,
Transportation, Health and Human Services, and Justice),
state agencies (Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department
of Motor Vehicles), and national organizations. He works
with national, state and local health promotion
initiatives, community mobilization efforts, program
planning initiatives, and curriculum development. His
work includes traffic safety initiatives, including the
foundations for Virginia’s strategic planning with
mature drivers. His work includes research studies,
communication campaigns, web-based resources, and public
awareness initiatives. He has developed numerous guides
and resource materials, and has conducted extensive
training throughout the United States and Micronesia. He
is the co-editor of Charting Your Course: A Lifelong
Guide to Health and Compassion (University of Notre Dame
Press, 1998).
Early in his career, he served as a student affairs
administrator. He served as the Director of Residence
Life at Ohio University, the Director of Residential
Life at Radford University, and a Residence Hall
Director at The Ohio State University. He received his
Bachelors Degree from Duke University, with a major in
Psychology and a minor in Business Administration. His
Masters Degree, from The Ohio State University, is in
Student Personnel Administration. His Ph.D. in Public
Policy/Public Affairs is from Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University.
COMING SOON! - Workshop and Cluster Session Guest
Speakers' Biographies
|
