Diya Kallivayalil, PhD
Co-Director, CHAAP
Dr. Kallivayalil is the Co-director of the CHA Asylum Program (CHAAP) and a part-time Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Her clinical specialty is in the treatment of trauma-related disorders. She is a member of the task force for human rights of the American Psychological Association and has published in the areas of complex trauma, gender-based violence, homicide bereavement and refugee health. She is the former Director of Training of the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Health Alliance.
Eleanor (Ellie) Emery, MD
Co-Director, CHAAP
Program Director of Asylum Medicine Education, Center for Health Equity Education & Advocacy (CHEEA)
Co-Lead, Asylum Medicine Training Initiative
Dr. Emery is an internist with the Department of Internal Medicine at Northern Navajo Medical Center and an Instructor of Medicine, Part-Time at Harvard Medical School. Her work includes clinical, advocacy, and research efforts focused on improving access to high quality, trauma-informed care for underserved communities, including on Navajo Nation where she lives and practices clinically. Ellie has expertise in conducting forensic medical evaluations for people seeking asylum in the U.S. and has founded and led asylum clinics at Weill Cornell Medical College, Massachusetts General Hospital, UCLA, the University of New Mexico, and Cambridge Health Alliance. She co-leads the Asylum Medicine Training Initiative, a national working group of 80 experts from over 40 institutions that developed a virtual, peer-reviewed, introductory curriculum featuring best practices in asylum medicine based on international standards. Ellie also serves as the Program Director of Asylum Medicine Education at the Cambridge Health Alliance’s Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy, and in this capacity developed and co-leads an interdisciplinary, year-long Asylum Medicine Elective for CHA residents.
Sara Snyder, PsyD, MPH, MA
Director of Research and Development, CHAAP
Dr. Snyder is a clinical trauma psychologist, health equity researcher, and Part-Time Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She completed a dual clinical-research postdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA)/Harvard Medical School, dividing her time between the Victims of Violence Program and the Department of Population Health. Dr. Snyder later completed a research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She holds a doctorate from Long Island University and two global health degrees from Columbia University: a Master of Public Health in Humanitarian Assistance and an MA in Global Mental Health & Trauma. Her global health work spans a variety of projects, including: 1) RCT in Jordan’s Za’atari Refugee Camp & urban pockets assessing psychosocial case management; 2) formative evaluation of a psychosocial & livelihoods support program for former Lord’s Resistance Army child soldiers; 3) monitoring & evaluation plan to assess literacy & numeracy gains for programs in Rwanda resettlements; 4) grant to increase mental health care access for women in the UAE; 5) re-design of HoNOS for a Middle Eastern Refugee population; and 6) pilot normative study of the Rorschach in Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. Her domestic work focuses on equitable mental healthcare access, capacity building, measurement/treatment adaptation, and forensic medical evaluations for asylum applicants.
Barbara Ogur, MD
Faculty, CHAAP
Dr. Ogur is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has been a primary care physician at the Windsor Street Health Center of the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), where she cared for an inner- city, largely immigrant population. During her many years of longitudinal primary care she has pursued special training and has acquired significant expertise in diagnosing and treating common conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Ogur has completed trainings in Asylum Medicine from Physicians for Human Rights and the Society of Refugee Healthcare Providers. In addition to her work with CHAAP’s leadership, she also teaches for the CHEEA Asylum Medicine Residency Elective. She has conducted more than 50 asylum evaluations.
Anita Mathews, MD, MPH
Faculty, CHAAP
Dr. Mathews is a Family Medicine physician at Cambridge Health Alliance. She earned her medical and public health degrees at the Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Colorado, where she developed a focus on immigrant health, mental health, and substance use disorder treatment. In addition to her primary care work, she is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at TUSM, a contributor to the Asylum Medicine Training Initiative, and teaching faculty for CHA’s Asylum Medicine elective course. She completed the Physicians for Human Rights’ forensic medical evaluation training in 2021 and is a member of the Society for Asylum Medicine and the Society for Refugee Healthcare Providers.
Kylie Straccia
Program Coordinator, CHAAP
Kylie Straccia is an Executive Assistant to CHA’s ACNO and Primary Care Administration and Operations department. She is also our Program Coordinator for the CHA Asylum Program. She has a BS in Business Management from Suffolk University and is certified in Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid. She has consistently demonstrated a strong passion for human services throughout her career and academic electives. Since joining our program, she has felt empowered with the tools and knowledge needed to tackle health inequities in our communities, fueling her passion. She is eager to contribute to making a meaningful impact through her work.