The Human Rights Center is excited to share the work of our fellowship alumni over the years. From human rights lawyers to journalists and researchers, the human rights work created by our fellows has contributed to the common good of the world. Our fellowship alumni have received leadership awards and recognition for their impactful work on human rights in the United States and the international community. Read some of their published work, see their award-winning projects, and find out about their accolades from reputable organizations.
A rainy day scene at a market in Waterloo, Western Area, Sierra Leone. Photo by Mara Kardas-Nelson
Fellows' Global Impact
Nazineen Kandahari
2020 HRC Fellow
- In 2021, along with her sister Nilufar Kayhani, Nazinen founded the Afghan Clinic to make health education accessible to the Bay Area Afghan community.
Bernadette Lim
2018 HRC Fellow
- 2020 Young Global Changer; Global Solutions: Granted by the World Policy Forum
- Yamashita Prize: Outstanding Emerging Activist in California; Granted by the UC Berkeley Institute for the study of Societal Issues
- Institute for Healing and Justice in Medicine; Founded the institute and launched the inaugural report, "Towards the Abolition of Biological Race"
Blaine Bookey
2008 HRC Fellow
- SF Attorney Magazine; Immigrant Women Too: The legal fight to ensure safe haven for survivors
- MsMagazine Article; Federal court reaffirms the U.S. as a safe haven for domestic violence survivors
- Immigrant Women Too Campaign; Immigrant Women Too: restoring protections for women fleeing gender-based persecution
Brittany Meché
2016 HRC Fellow
- Publication #1; Memories of an Imperial City: Race, Gender, and Birmingham, Alabama
- Publication #2; Bad Things Happen in the Desert: Mapping Security Regimes in the West African Sahel and the 'Problem' of Arid Spaces
- Residency Fellowship; 1-Year residency fellowship at Harvard in the Du-Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African American Studies
- Williams Colege; C. 2020-2021: Bolin Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Studies at Williams College. Tenure-track appointment in Environmental Studies at Williams in Fall of 2021
David Gross
2000 HRC Fellow
- Photography Website
- Project Website; Inside-Outside Project, a multimedia interactive website that documents the Syrian Refugee Trail
Elise Baker
2019 HRC Fellow
- Research Report published in the Health and Human Rights Journal; Safer Viewing: A Study of Secondary Trauma Mitigation Techniques in Open Source Investigations
Levi Bridges
2017 HRC Fellow
- NPR UnFictional Part 1; two-part series about Mauricio, a Mexican immigrant trying to come across the U.S.-Mexico border
- NPR UnFictional Part 2; in part two of the series, the story follows how Mauricio was abandoned in the desert.
- Public Radio International; Ukraine is 'sending a very clear message to corrupt elites'
Levi Vonk
2018 HRC Fellow
- Border Hacker, an epic story about the violence of the US immigration system through the life of one man.
- Radio feature in Fall 2021; Upcoming book publication "Border Hacker" chronicles the story of an undocumented computer whiz from his childhood in NY to his deportation in Guatemala, to his journey north through Mexico.
- Foreign Policy Article; an in-depth article on the refugee crisis and human rights challenges in Mexico
Mara Kardas-Nelson
2019 HRC Fellow
- NPR Article; A Nation's Tense Debate Over How to Fight Rape
- The Guardian Article; Microfinance lenders in Sierra Leone accused of 'payday loan' interest rates
- The Appeal Article #1; As the coronavirus pandemic worsens, Olympia's homeless community scrambles for support
- The Appeal Article #2; A Woman's Fight to get her terminally ill sister out of prison during the pandemic
Matt Iverson
2000 HRC Fellow
- Advisers give back;A platform to help people who are facing economic challenges by connecting them with a pro-bono financial adviser.
- Acoach; A program to help communities achieve greater social justice by advocating for policy change, using a methodology taught at Cal.
- Stimulus Pledge; Stimulus pledge for undocumented families excluded from federal assistance.
Mavis Mei-Fong Siu
2018 HRC Fellow
- Film Website: Mavis Films; Mong Kong First Aid 成年禮: First aid during Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement
- South China Morning Post; Press Column interview
Madeleine Bair
2010 HRC Fellow
- El Timpano Website; Local reporting lab serving Latinx immigrants in Oakland
Manuel Rosaldo
2012 HRC Fellow
- The antinomies of successful mobilization: Colombian Recyclers Manoeuvre between dispossession and exploitation
- Revolution in the Garbage Dump: The Political-Economic Foundations of the Colombian Recycler Movement
Raed Rafei
2018 HRC Fellow
- Documentary Film; 'Eccomi...Ecotti' (Here I am...Here you are) is a documentary that touches on LGBTQ Rights, immigration in the Middle East.
- ONEmagazine article; A multimedia story about Christian minorities in Iraq.
Rosalynn Vega
2011 HRC Fellow
No Alternative: Childbirth, Citizenship, and Indigenous Culture in Mexico
Sarah Ferrell
2019 HRC Fellow
- UCB Public Health's Community Action Team report
- Donate to the Community Action Team; initiated by UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health to maximize the wellbeing of all our communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steve Fisher
2013 HRC Fellow
- NY Times Article; "A Slow-motion Chernobyl': How Lax Laws Turned a River into a Disaster.
- LA Times Article; Mexico sent in the army to fight the drug war. Many question the toll on society and the army itself.