Suzanne Barakat

Dr. Suzanne Barakat is a practicing physician, humanitarian, and advocate for inclusion and social justice whose career is at the intersection of medicine, human rights, and public advocacy. Barakat earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her residency in Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. Her clinical practice includes hospital medicine, labor and delivery, and urgent care, with a focus on underserved communities. Barakat's research interests encompass family medicine, human rights, global health, immigration, refugees, asylum seekers, social justice, mental health, and women's health.

As a leader in refugee and asylum medicine, Barakat has established an institutional legacy at the University of California San Francisco. As executive director of the UCSF Health and Human Rights Initiative, she led efforts to standardize clinical training and documentation of human rights violations and developed the world's first clinical fellowship in asylum medicine. She contributed to a pioneering mood screener and mental health assessment for Arabic-speaking communities worldwide and has worked at makeshift polyclinics and state hospitals serving refugees along the Turkish-Syrian border. Barakat has returned to the Syrian-Turkish border and has traveled to post-regime Syria to support the country's forensic response.

Barakat's advocacy was shaped by personal tragedy when her brother Deah, her sister-in-law Yusor, and Yusor's sister Razan were murdered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Law enforcement and media initially labeled the crime a parking dispute, prompting Barakat to advocate for the murders to be recognized as hate crimes. This loss became the catalyst for her broader public mission. Speaking at TEDWomen, she called for an end to hate and shared how her family reclaimed their narrative and advocates for a world free from bigotry and discrimination. She also recounted the tragedy on The Moth stage in her piece "Deah, Yusor and Razan."

Barakat has delivered a TED Talk, been featured in the documentary "36 Seconds: Portrait of a Hate Crime," appeared on major news outlets, and was honored with the Uniter Award by President Biden. Her advocacy includes policy influence, engaging with U.S. officials and contributing to the White House Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. Barakat serves as board chair of Our Three Winners Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to combating Islamophobia and promoting social justice. She is also a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Barakat combines medical expertise and lived experience to challenge audiences to confront hate, champion human rights, and build more inclusive communities.