Weill Cornell Medicine anesthesiologist Dr. Gunisha Kaur ’06, M.D. ’10, has been appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency that globally monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) appointed her to the position, which carries a two-year term. USCIRF was created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act and comprises nine commissioners, supported by a nonpartisan professional staff. Three commissioners are appointed by the president, three by U.S. Senate leadership, and three by leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Schumer recommended Kaur in part because she has “extensive experience in human rights and community leadership,” he said in a statement. “I am confident that she will bring her deep medical, academic, research, religious and leadership expertise to her service on the commission.”

Kaur is an associate professor of anesthesiology, director of the Anesthesiology Global Health Initiative and Human Rights Impact Lab at Weill Cornell Medicine, and the Salvatore Family Medical Director of the Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights (WCCHR).

Her research on migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers provides the bridge between her Weill Cornell work and USCIRF’s mission. Kaur, who is the first Sikh leader to serve on the commission, said her experiences and leadership in clinical care and research help give her a real-world understanding of global human rights violations, persecution and violence. 

WCCHR launched in 2010, the year Kaur graduated from Weill Cornell Medicine. The WCCHR was founded in collaboration with Physicians for Human Rights, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning nonprofit that leverages medical and scientific expertise to document and combat global human rights violations.

The commission 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.  

In practice, this includes advising Congress on matters relating to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF issues publications, holds hearings and public events, hosts a podcast, and pens opinion and editorial articles in various publications. For example, USCIRF releases an annual report detailing foreign countries that violate religious freedom, among other topics. USCIRF also meets regularly with government officials within the executive branch to raise its policy recommendations to advance freedom of religion or belief abroad.

Read the full story at the Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom.

KJ Bannan is a freelance writer for Weill Cornell Medicine.