Dr. Fernando, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, an Attending Physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Elmhurst Hospital, and the Medical Director of the Libertas Center for Human Rights at Elmhurst Hospital. She graduated from the George Washington School of Medicine and Public Health and completed her Residency in Emergency Medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. She is a graduate of the Mount Sinai Global Health Program, has worked in Kenya and Holland and was the recipient of the Mt. Sinai Dept. of Emergency Medicine’s Dr. Saidapet Balakrishnan Humanitarian Award. After residency, she stayed on as faculty working clinically at Elmhurst Hospital, where she received Elmhurst Hospital’s Elmmy and Shining Star Awards for Exceptional Service and Compassionate Care to Patients and Colleagues, and recognition by the Medical Executive Committee for Outstanding Leadership, Service and Dedication. Dr. Fernando has had a 10-year appointment on the National Capacity Building Advisory Group for Torture Treatment Programs, is a faculty mentor for the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Human Rights and Social Justice Program and the Mt. Sinai Chapter of Medical Students for Haiti. She has successfully translated her passion to champion the underserved into tangible accomplishments in the field. She was recently presented with the 2018 Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Humanism in Medicine Award by the Gold Foundation, and inducted into the Gold Humanism Foundation.
As the Medical Director of the Libertas Center for Human Rights, Dr. Fernando has secured over $4 million in grant funding to develop a multidisciplinary treatment center providing trauma-focused, culturally sensitive, longitudinal medical, mental health, social and legal services to survivors of torture and persecution in their home countries, with 88% of clients reporting improved life overall six months after receiving services. Libertas has trained 1000s of providers across disciplines on best practices in caring for torture survivors. Dr. Fernando’s expertise has been recognized with funding by New York State to conduct research on health outcomes for torture survivors. Her work has been recognized by the NY City Council, the Greater New York Hospital Association, and the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, amongst others, and profiled by NPR.
