Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (PATH)

History:

In 2012, AMWA President, Dr. Gayatri Devi, identified sex trafficking as an important issue for AMWA to address. This led to the development of the Human Trafficking Committee by co-chairs Dr. Suzanne Harrison and Dr. Holly Atkinson, which authored AMWA’s position statement on human trafficking. Dr. Kanani Titchen, then AMWA Resident President, conducted a survey to assess healthcare providers’ knowledge in this area and found it to be significantly lacking. These findings led to the creation of a series of educational videos and an interactive website to educate medical professionals about sex trafficking victims. Two years later, the SUSTAIN curriculum was developed and a few years later, the LIFT Curriculum.AMWA-PATH a summit in 2015 at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and over 40 local trainings across the United States. Read the full article.

Jain, Juhi; Bennett, Mackenzie; Bailey, Mark; Liaou, Daniel; Kaltiso, Sheri-Ann; Greenbaum, Jordan; Williams, Kimberly; Gordon, Mollie; Torres, Melissa; Nguyen, Phuong; Coverdale, John; Williams, Victor; Hari, Cayla; Rodriguez, Samantha; Salami, Temilola; Potter, Jonell. “Human Trafficking and the Role of the Medical Professional: Creating a Collaborative Trauma-Informed Interdisciplinary City-Wide Victim Services Model Focused on Healthcare for Survivors of Human Trafficking,” Public Health Reports, the official journal of the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service. Volume 137 Issue 1_suppl, July/August 2022

The Impact of Human Trafficking Training on Healthcare Professionals’ Knowledge and Attitudes. Hayoung Lee, Julia Geynisman-Tan, Sarah Hofer, Emily Anderson, Sahar Caravan and Kanani Titchen. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development Volume 8: 1–7 2021

AMWA-PATH is an organization committed to the education of healthcare professionals on human trafficking: how to recognize and care for this patient population. We are a team composed of practicing physicians, dentists, and nurses, as well as professional and undergraduate students. Please visit the other tabs to learn more.

As Student Co-Chairs, we have sought to connect with other students at various national training sessions and within our own communities. Many of you have your own initiatives at your institutions and come from a wide array of backgrounds, professions, and goals. Engaging with you is the best next step for the student section of AMWA-PATH. As a result, we have created the Student Interest Group.

We aim to expand student involvement by fostering collaboration across pre-medical and medical school chapters, increasing advocacy and fundraising, and more. We want to uplift each other and stay true to what makes AMWA so special – deliberate mentorship and guidance at every level of training, from high school to attending level.

As we progress through our training, we have so many experiences and perspectives to offer one another, and AMWA-PATH can participate in this model as well. In doing so, we aim to increase our visibility and engagement at the local, state, and national levels as student members of AMWA-PATH.

To get started, please complete the Student Interest Form (link) so we can learn more about you.

Once we have a core group, we will be in touch! Thank you for your patience as we start this next exciting part of AMWA-PATH’s journey.

Warmly,

Student and Resident Co-Chairs

Monthly Newsletter

This is an initiative from the PATH Student group — a quarterly series in research and advocacy news summaries created by the PATH residents and medical students. Newsletters will feature brief breakdowns on some of the most recent scholarly publications, policy changes related to human trafficking, and recent and upcoming PATH events.

September 2025 AMWA-PATH Advocates for Human Trafficking Legislation

May 15, 2025 – AMWA-PATH release position statement supporting the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act of 2025 (HR 1379)

January 2022 – AMWA-PATH Statement for Human Trafficking Awareness Month

AMWA-PATH (Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans) wants to commend the 117th Congress for passing the Counter Human Trafficking Act of 2021, which, among other things, establishes a Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering Human Trafficking. We also want to recognize the Justice Department for providing over $90 million in grant funds, with over 500 awards given to organizations that provide services to survivors, support research, and evaluate responses to human trafficking. To learn more about the federal efforts to combat human trafficking, read our complete statement here (link).

We urge additional federal focus and efforts on providing funding, resources, and training for all health care professionals who are in a unique position to interact with potential victims prior to and during their exploitation and can better recognize and intervene early when trained on risk factors and indicators for human trafficking. Health care professionals, working through a preventative public health lens, can become a real force in anti-trafficking efforts by identifying vulnerability factors in our patients before exploitation and providing access to stabilizing interventions to those most at risk. PATH provides this education through our LIFT (Learn to Identify and Fight Trafficking) training, a free 3-hr CME course that is taught by our volunteer physicians and survivors, thanks to generous donations to PATH.

View the Online Training

Request A LIFT Training

Learn to Identify and Fight Trafficking (LIFT) Series

The AMWA-PATH curriculum is a human trafficking training designed to educate healthcare providers at all levels of training on how to identify and assist patients that have been trafficked. The LIFT series is a virtual, 3-hour, interactive training that grants 3.0 Category 1 CEU credits to participants free of charge, covering essential information about labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. LIFT is a CME-accredited training through the American Medical Women’s Association, Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (AMWA-PATH).

The Learn to Identify and Fight Trafficking (LIFT) series covers the following:

• What Is Human Trafficking?
• Where Is Human Trafficking?
• Who Is At-Risk?
• How Are Humans Trafficked?
• Trafficking & Health Care
• The Impact: Why Should We Care?
• Barriers to Care
• What Can We Do?
• The Dilemma
• Resilience & the PATH to Recovery

Learning objectives are as follows:

1. Describe the scope and prevalence of the problem of labor trafficking and sex trafficking in the United States.
2. Recognize the warning signs that raise suspicion for trafficking victimization and identify trafficked persons who present to the health care setting.
3. Commit to incorporate assessing suspected victims of trafficking into routine practice.
4. Commit to clinically evaluate and treat any patient suspected of being trafficked, using trauma-informed reporting techniques and local and national resources.

AMWA-PATH partners with community resources engaged in the fight against human trafficking. These community partners comprise a panel of local experts whose knowledge around human trafficking is specific to the city/location of the training. The role of community partners is to educate participants on the available resources in the area, and to provide pamphlets, business cards, and any other handouts that may be useful to medical professionals. The community partners are also able to provide detailed accounts of a patient’s path to recovery, which frequently involves legal advocacy, medical care, housing, psychological care, job training/placement, and other resources.

Upcoming Events & Registration

The LIFT curriculum is now available as a virtual option or in person depending on facilitator availability. We offer an intensive/interactive 3 hour training (2 hour didactic and 1 hour panel Q&A), comprehensive/interactive 2 hour training (1.5 hour didactic with 0.5 hr Q&A) and basic 1 hour training (0.75 hr didactic with 0.25 hr Q&A). Check our list of upcoming events that you might be able to attend. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in hosting an event.

Online LIFT Training (on demand)

Please note that the online LIFT recording does not offer CME credits; only the live or virtual LIFT trainings grant continuing education credit for members of AMWA.

Accreditation

You may earn continuing education credit by participating in this activity. Powered by CMEfy – a seamless way to earn continuing education credit for Point-of-Care co-learning for reflections rather than just for viewing content. Learn more at about.cmefy.com/cme-info.

To obtain credit, one must be an active member of AMWA. You will be awarded 1 credit per hour of content participation when you respond the reflective prompts earned though links produced for each course; provided at to registered participants at the end of the course.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of Indiana University School of Medicine and American Medical Women’s Association, Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans. The Indiana University School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Indiana University School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 3.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Indiana University School of Medicine has been approved by the Indiana Social Worker, Marriage and Family Therapist and Mental Health Counselor Board to provide Category I Continuing Education program. This activity qualifies for 3.0 Category I CEU as outlined by the Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board.

All trainings are FREE thanks to our generous donors.

To schedule a training, please complete the LIFT Training Request or email [email protected]

Trafficking Laws by State  Read More

State by State Policy Guidelines on Mandated Reporting Requirements

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Contact Us

AMWA-PATH Leadership:

• President: Dr. Zayn Gerakitis and Dr. Juhi Jain
• Treasurer: Dr. Traci Kurtzer
• Past President: Dr. Traci Kurtzer
• Admin & Operations Mgr: Kayla Li ([email protected])
• Past Admin: Zayn Gerakitis, Sarah Melin
• Co-Chairs: Aarti Vala, Liz Berdan, Preeti Panda, Juhi Jain, Traci Kurtzer, Zayn Gerakitis
• Survivor/Lived Experience Experts (content, curriculum, speaking): Ellora Nyhan, Jennifer Hammer, and Suleman Masood

AMWA-PATH Student Interest Group Leadership/Chairs:

• President: Lindsey Maynard
• Vice President: Amina Ashraf
• Advocacy:
  • Student Chair/Asst Chair: Elizabeth Culpepper/Sarah Osborn/Gabriella Tangkilisan
  • Physician Chairs: Drs. Preeti Panda, Juhi Jain
• Education & Research:
  • Student Chair/Asst Chair: Tessa Peredy/Pavithra Kathirvel/Mikayla Mefford
  • Physician Chairs: Dr. Elizabeth Berdan
• Public Relations:
  • Student Co-Chairs: Megan Sherman/Hari Ponduri/Megan Slattery
  • Physician Chair: Dr. Aarti Vala
• Fundraising:
  • Student Co-Chairs: Xori Green/Dr. Sheree Carter/Michelle Chan Sanchez
  • Physician Chair: Dr. Traci Kurtzer (interim)
• Specialty:
  • Chair Dentistry: Trudy Reese
  • Chair PA/APRN/RN: Jen Stout
  • Chair EMT: Diana Vizza

AMWA-PATH Interns / Newsletter:

• Newsletter editor: Amina Ashraf
• Interns: Becca Song, Dana Shubai