Leonard S. Rubenstein

Leonard S. Rubenstein, JD, is President of Physicians for Human Rights, an organization that mobilizes the health professions to advance human rights. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Wesleyan University, Mr. Rubenstein has spent thirty years engaged in advocacy for human rights and health domestically and internationally. He has led human rights investigations throughout the world and in recent years his work has encompassed global HIV/AIDS; human rights and health systems development, gender inequality and health, and human rights dimensions of U.S. anti-terror policies and practices. He has written extensively, both for scholarly publications and in major media such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe, about the relationship of human rights and health, including the role human rights organizations in advancing social, economic and cultural rights.

Mr. Rubenstein serves on the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Health and Human Rights Organizations and Mental Disability Rights International, and on Governing Council of the American Public Health Association. He has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School and lectures annually at Harvard Medical School. He is the recipient of the Congressional Minority Caucuses' Healthcare Hero Award; the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area's Louis B. Sohn Award; the Physicians Forum Edward K. Barsky Award; the National Mental Health Association's Mission Award; and the Political Asylum Representation Project's Outstanding Achievement Award.