Denali Fernando

Executive Director, Libertas Center for Human Rights, Elmhurst Hospital, Elmhurst, NY

Dinali Fernando, MD, MPH is the Executive Director of the Libertas Center for Human Rights, an Attending Physician at Elmhurst Hospital, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dinali has developed Libertas into a multidisciplinary treatment center providing trauma-focused and culturally sensitive medical, mental health, social and legal services to torture survivors. Libertas has trained 1000s of providers across disciplines on best practices in caring for torture survivors. Dinali has been supported by New York State to study health outcomes among torture survivors; recognized by the NYC Council, the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation, and the Greater NY Hospital Association; and profiled by NPR.

Dinali graduated from the George Washington School of Medicine/Public Health and completed Emergency Medicine Residency and the Global Health Program at the Mount Sinai Medical Center. She worked in Kenya and Holland and received Mt. Sinai’s Dr. Balakrishnan Humanitarian Award. After residency, she stayed on as faculty working clinically at Elmhurst Hospital, receiving 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. Dinali serves on the National Capacity Building Advisory Group for Torture Treatment Programs, and as a faculty mentor for the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Human Rights and Social Justice Program. She received the 2018 National Pearl Birnbaum Hurwitz Humanism in Medicine Award, and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Foundation.