New York: Dr Gunisha Kaur has been appointed to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a term of two years by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).
An anesthesiologist specializing in human rights research, Kaur becomes the first Sikh appointed to the commission. She serves as the Salvatore Family Medical Director of Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights and is the Founding Director of Human Rights Impact Lab.
“Dr Kaur is a New Yorker who will make history as the first Sikh leader to serve on the Commission, and I am honored to support a commissioner with such extensive experience in human rights and community leadership," Senator Schumer said.
"At a time when religious freedom issues are top of mind at home and abroad – whether it is the rise in antisemitism, attacks on minority religious communities globally, or the right-wing’s attempts to use “religious freedom” as guise to attack fundamental rights—I am confident that she will bring her deep medical, academic, research, religious and leadership expertise to her service on the Commission," he added.
Dr Kaur has conducted innovative research on displaced populations such as migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Her research has been supported by Cornell University, the National Institutes of Health, the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research, and the National Academy of Medicine.
She is a graduate of Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical College, and she completed her residency at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine. She also earned an MA in medical anthropology from Harvard University.
The USCIRF monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad; makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress; and tracks the implementation of these recommendations.
