Committee Members

Community Advisory Board Members

Allen Keller, MD 

2003 Barbara Chester Award Recipient. NY 

Barbara Poley, MA - Hopi and Laguna / Bear Clan

Retired; Former Executive Director of The Hopi Foundation. Arizona Community Foundation Board, & Spirit Aligned Legacy Leader. AZ

Craig M. Oettinger  

Associate Professor of Sociology (retired), University of Houston, Clear Lake, TX 

Diana Kordon 

2016 Barbara Chester Award Recipient. Argentina

Jorge Cabrera 

Field Office Director, Casey Family Programs. San Diego, CA 

Kathi Anderson 

2Executive Director of Survivors of Torture, International- San Diego, CA; Executive Committee Member of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims- Copenhagen, Denmark; Executive Committee Member of the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs

Martha Blue

Formerly General Council to Havasupai Tribe & legal counsel to members of the Hualapai, Dine & Hopi Tribes; pro bono legal counsel first years of the Hopi Foundation. Flagstaff, AZ 

Mary Fabri, PsyD 

2009 Barbara Chester Award Recipient. Arizona

Meredith Larson

Human rights Advocate, with MPH focused on Torture Rehabilitation; former Selection Committee member

Ryan Kober 

Former Legal Advocate for Mexican and Central American Asylum Seekers; Current Collaborative Facilitator with Building Healthy Communities. Del Norte County & Tribal Lands, CA 

Shari Eppel  

2000 Barbara Chester Award Recipient. Zimbabwe

Valaura Imus-Nahsonhoya  

Hopi Tribal Member with 16 years of direct victim services to crime victims. Executive Director/Founder of Hongwungsi Consulting Services & employed with the National Criminal Justice Training Center 

Selection Committee Members:

The Barbara Chester Award recipient will be determined by vote of the Selection Committee. Selection Committee members have demonstrated substantial lifetime commitment to the field of human rights, and many have worked specifically with survivors of political torture.

Juan Almendares, MD

Executive Director, Center for the Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Alp Ayan, MD 

Consultant Psychiatrist & Psychotherapist of the Turkish Human Right Foundation, Izmir, Turkey

Martha Blue, JD

Formerly General Counsel to the Havasupai Tribe, former legal counsel to members of the Hualapai, Navajo, and Hopi tribes, Flagstaff, Arizona

Esad Boskailo

Survivor and now working as a attending Psychiatrist in the Phoenix area

Jorge Cabrera, MSW, ACSW

Field Office Director, Casey Family Programs, and Board of Directors, Survivors of Torture International, San Diego, California

Cynthia Dagnal-Myron

Retired educator, published author, former features reporter for the Chicago SunTimes and Arizona Daily Star, contributing writer for Medium & the Huffington Post

Shari Eppel

Solidarity Peace Trust, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Mary R. Fabri, PsyD Senior Director

Formerly Executive Director, Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center, Chicago, Illinois

Abby Hungwe

From Zimbabwe and now the Managing Director at Owl and Panther, in Tucson AZ

James M. Jaranson, MD, MA, MPH Senior

Clinical Advisory Group, International Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture, Copenhagen, Denmark; Vice President, Board of Directors, Survivors of Torture, International, San Diego, California; Formerly Medical Director, Center For Victims of Torture, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Allen S. Keller, MD

Director, Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, Associate Professor of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine, New York, New York

Joanne Kittel, MSW

Psychiatric Social Worker (ret). Has worked for many years in the field of trauma with survivors and perpetrators. Yachats, Oregon

Diana Kordon

2016 BCA Recipient, coordinator of the Argentine Team of Psychological Work and Research, Argentina

Aryeh Levenson, MD

Staff Psychiatrist, South Central Foundation, Anchorage, Alaska

Marianna Neil, MA

Formerly Director of Social Services, Task Force on Central America and Family Outreach, Center for the Prevention and Resolution of Violence, Tucson, Arizona

Craig M. Oettinger, PhD

Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Houston, Clear Lake, Texas

Lucy E. Wilson, PhD

Clinical Psychologist. Formerly with Center for the Prevention and Resolution of Violence, Tucson, Arizona

2019 Coordinator: 

Danielle Romeyn, LMT

Has lived on Hopi for 14 years and has immersed herself in encouraging the wholeness of ones self

Past Committee Members:

Hélène Jaffe, MD 

Former Medical Director, Association for Victims of Repression in Exile (AVRE), Paris, France. Advisor on Torture to World Health Organization. Formerly President and Council Member, International Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture, Copenhagen, Denmark

Bernard Albaugh, MSW, MPH 

Former Director, Center for Native American Development, Weatherford; Former Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Historian

Rita Maran, PhD 

Lecturer on Human Rights, University of California at Berkeley; Board Member, Center for Justice and Accountability, Berkeley, California

Julie Shaw

Founder and Formerly Executive Director, Urgent Action Fund for Strategic Initiatives by Women in Areas of Armed Conflict, Boulder, Colorado

Loris Taylor, MEd - Hopi and Acoma / Masauu Clan

President and Chief Executive Officer, Native Public Media, Flagstaff, Arizona

Sima Wali, MA 

Formerly President, Refugee Women in Development, Washington D.C. Recipient of Amnesty International's Third Annual Ginetta Sagan Fund Award