Xiao Lu – Treasurer
Xiao Lu is currently a quantitative research director for a large international hedge fund. Prior to that she has managed equity portfolios and worked as financial analyst in leading international hedge funds, where she modelled and analysed corporations financial performance. She started her career as a financial analyst of listed corporations in Europe for a leading international Investment Bank. She has a BA and MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
Janahan Sivanathan
Janahan gained his law degree in 2021, having been motivated to study law after experiencing the UK’s immigration system first-hand, as a Tamil refugee. He was named runner up for the Future Legal Mind award 2020, for his essay on discrimination against Foreign National Offenders embedded in the UK immigration system. He is also a Trustee at Birkbeck, Students Union. Currently works as the Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.
Prof Cornelius Katona
Cornelius Katona is Honorary Medical and Research Director of the Helen Bamber Foundation – a human rights charity working with asylum seekers and refugees and Hon Professor in the Division of Psychiatry at University College London. He is the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ lead on Refugee and Asylum Mental Health. He was Chair of the Steering Group for the Commission on the Integration of Refugees which published its report and recommendations in March 2024. He was a member of the Committee that recently updated NICE guidelines on PTSD. He has published more than 300 papers and written/edited 16 books. In 2019 he was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Honorary Fellowship, the College’s highest honour, for his ‘outstanding service to psychiatry’.
Sarah Ricca
Sarah Ricca is a solicitor and founding partner of the firm Deighton Pierce Glynn. She specialises in civil rights and civil liberties claims arising from abuses by the state. Over three decades she has represented many people seeking asylum in this country, or who have migrated to the UK for other reasons, who have been unlawfully detained or subjected to unlawful force and other mistreatment by the state, as well as family members bereaved by failings within the immigration detention system. She is a trustee of the Centre for Women’s Justice as well as Medical Justice.
Dr Juliet Cohen
Juliet is a forensic physician who has been documenting evidence of torture, trafficking and other serious harm in many hundreds of individuals for over 25 years. She was Head of Doctors at Freedom from Torture from 2005-2021, training doctors in medico-legal report writing. She is a member of the international Forensic Expert Group and Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine (FFLM). She has been an expert consultant for the European Asylum Support Office revising their training on interviewing vulnerable persons and on evidence assessment for immigration officers. As co-chair of a FFLM working party she published the Quality Standards for Healthcare Professionals Working with Victims of Torture in Detention. She has provided expert witness evidence for extradition cases, for the Supreme Court in the UK and for the International Criminal Court. She is the editor of chapter V of the Istanbul Protocol 2022 edition. She is a core member of the MWN- medico-legal report writers network, bringing together clinicians who work in this field to share experience and learning. Becoming a trustee of Medical Justice feels like a perfect extension of all these experiences.
Dr Linda Burke
Linda is a Non-Executive Director at Hillingdon Hospital, a Councillor for the London Borough of Ealing and a Governor at Drayton Green Primary School. She has a long track record as Senior Executive with board experience in Health, Higher Education and not-for-profit most recently as Executive Director, Education and Quality at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Before that Linda held the position of Pro Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Education and Health at the University of Greenwich. Linda joined the University from the Nursing & Midwifery Council, where she was Head of Revalidation. Linda also held Senior leadership positions at NHS London, as Head of Strategy and Development; as Associate Dean at St George’s Medical School & Kingston University; at the Department of Health and at London South Bank University. An Economic & Social History graduate, she went on to train as a nurse, with a special interest in oncology. Linda also has a PhD, a Masters in Education and is a qualified coach
Phil Haywood
Prior to being called to the Bar, Phil Haywood qualified as a solicitor and worked as a Legal officer at the Refugee Legal Centre. His practice encompasses advocacy and representation at all levels, including the Immigration Tribunals, where he has represented in numerous cases, and the Administrative Court and Court of Appeal. Phil gives training sessions on medico-legal report writing to Medical Justice volunteer clinicians.
Anna Shea
Prior to immigrating to the UK, Anna Shea qualified as a lawyer in Canada and was called to the Bar in the province of Ontario. She has undertaken human rights research and advocacy in several countries, including Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey. In addition to defending migrants’ rights while working at a grassroots legal clinic in Montreal, she has also engaged in strategic litigation at the Supreme Court of Canada, European Court of Human Rights and UK Supreme Court, on matters ranging from extradition to national security. She holds a double degree in Common Law and Civil Law from McGill University, an MA and BA (Hons) in History from the same institution and a Masters in Law (Distinction) from Birkbeck University of London.
Pranavan Balachandran
Pranavan and his family endured eight years under the Hostile Environment, facing unimaginable hardships along the way. In 2020, they finally won the right to remain, marking a turning point in their lives. With the opportunity to work at last, Pranavan quickly advanced from an intern to his current role as a Senior AI Engineer in just four years. Now, having reached a much better place, he feels a deep need to give back, inspired by the support that others extended to him and his family during their most challenging times.
