Kelly Beharry Named Student Fellow for Research to Advance Global Health & Human Rights
The Center for Global Health Equity is proud to announce that Kelly Beharry, a third-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School, has been selected as the 2026 Fellow for Research to Advance Global Health & Human Rights.
This fellowship—offered through a partnership between the Center for Global Health Equity, the Donia Human Rights Center, and Physicians for Human Rights—supports graduate and professional students in pursuing research and advocacy projects that advance health equity through a human rights lens. Fellows receive funding and mentorship to carry out interdisciplinary projects over a six-month period.
Beharry will undertake her fellowship from January to June 2026, under the guidance of faculty mentors. Her project will investigate the health impacts of immigration detention and persecution on asylum seekers, beginning with the United States. Building on Physicians for Human Rights' work documenting medical and psychological harm from human rights violations, her research will analyze how specific detention conditions and disparities in medical and legal access shape long-term health outcomes. She also plans to compare U.S. immigration and detention policies with those of other high-income nations to identify alternative models that prioritize human dignity and public health.
Beharry brings deeply personal motivation and extensive advocacy experience to this role. As the child of undocumented immigrants from Trinidad & Tobago, she became her parents' advocate from a young age—navigating the immigration system and searching for accessible healthcare. During medical school, she has served as training coordinator for the University of Michigan Asylum Collaborative, where she trained medical students, residents, and physicians to conduct forensic evaluations for asylum seekers. She spearheaded the development of an Asylum Medicine elective and co-organized the first Physicians for Human Rights conference in the Midwest. Through the Student National Medical Association's Health Policy and Legislative Advocacy fellowship, she authored resolutions advocating for expanded healthcare access for undocumented immigrants in Michigan and wrote a policy brief on Michigan's juvenile justice system.
Beharry also brings international research experience, having designed a culturally sensitive study in Nepal examining physicians' attitudes toward genetic testing and counseling. Through an NIH-supported grant, she is now comparing newborn screening programs in Nepal and the U.S. to understand how policy gaps impact healthcare delivery in resource-limited environments.
Through the fellowship, Beharry hopes to provide critical, data-driven evidence to inform policy change and reinforce that detention reform is both a moral imperative and a public health necessity. Her work reflects the core mission of the fellowship program: to support the next generation of physician-leaders, researchers, and advocates committed to health and human rights.
Launched in 2025, this fellowship is a joint initiative of the University of Michigan's Center for Global Health Equity, the Donia Human Rights Center, and Physicians for Human Rights. It supports University of Michigan graduate and professional students in conducting mentored research and advocacy projects that address the intersection of global health and human rights.