“Adversity invites us to create boundaries and push limits.”
Press play to hear Dr. Suzan Song share her story. [closed captions available]
I believe adversity can be overcome so people can be who they want to be with hope, wisdom, and fortitude.
Suzan Song, MD, MPH, PhD is internationally recognized as a humanitarian child/adult psychiatrist and leading advocate for the most vulnerable populations of the world. She is Director of Global Child and Family Mental Health at Harvard / Boston Children’s Hospital and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at George Washington University, adviser to the U.S. State Department on human trafficking and U.S. Office for Victims of Crime on mass violence incidents, as well as a mental health and psychosocial adviser to various humanitarian agencies.
After training at the University of Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Amsterdam, she conducted research and policy work with forcibly displaced youth and families and former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Haiti, DR Congo, and the Syrian refugee camps in Jordan as an adviser to humanitarian agencies such as United Nations and International Medical Corps. She has also treated thousands of survivors of torture and human rights violations in the U.S. and globally. Her book, Child/Adolescent & Family Refugee Mental Health: A Global Perspective, is co-edited with the senior mental health adviser to the UN Refugee Agency.
Her compassion and expertise in clinical care, research, and public health policy, make her a key voice in trauma-informed care and global health. She is frequently sought as a national and international keynote speaker and trainer, having given talks at Google, Harvard, Stanford, the Department of Homeland Security, and provided testimonies for multiple Congressional briefings.
For over a decade, Dr. Song has provided care for children and adults in private practice and community mental health, annually recognized as a Washingtonian Best Doctor since moving to the D.C. area in 2016. She romps around with her two children outside of Washington, D.C., planning the next kite surfing trip while burning dinner though rescuing the meal with dessert.
Positions
2022-Present
Director, Global Child & Family Mental Health, Harvard / Boston Children’s Hospital
Technical adviser, U.S. Office for Victims of Crimes (mass violence incidents)
Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine
2019-Present
Adviser, U.S. State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Humans
Subject matter expert, U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement
2015- Present
Executive Director, Global Collective, Inc 501(c)3
2020- Present
Associate and Portfolio Lead, MHPSS Collaborative for Children & Families, hosted by Save the Children Denmark
2016-2022
Director, Child/Adolescent & Family Psychiatry, Associate Professor, George Washington University
2013-2015
President, Northern California Region of Child/Adolescent Psychiatrists
2010-2016
Adjunct faculty, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University Medical School
2009-2016
Medical Director and Psychiatrist, Survivors of Torture program Asian Americans for Community Involvement
2012-2016
Medical Director and Child Psychiatrist, Alternative Family Solutions
Education
University of Amsterdam
Ph.D. Anthropology/Social Behavioral Medicine
Stanford University
Post-doctoral fellow, Palo Alto Veteran’s Affairs
University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
Child Trauma Institute, parent-infant trauma-focused therapy
Stanford School of Medicine
Child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship
Bay Area Family Institute Training
Systemic family therapy
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Longwood Adult psychiatry residency
Harvard School of Public Health
M.P.H. Health policy & management
University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine
M.D.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
B.S. Residential College, dual major: Biology & Epistemology Across Cultures (individualized concentration)
Honors & Awards
Catcher in the Rye Humanitarian Award, American Academy of Child/Adolescent Psychiatrists, 2020
Fulbright Specialist, U.S. State Department, 2020-2022
Member, Council on Children & Families, American Psychiatric Association, 2020-2022
Spokesperson on Refugee Mental Health, American Psychiatric Association, 2019-present
Distinguished Fellow, American Academy of Child/Adolescent Psychiatrists (AACAP), 2018-present
Washingtonian Best Doctors, Washingtonian Magazine, every year since 2016 after arriving to the D.C. area.
Committee Member, Global Mental Health, AACAP
Gordon Andrews Community Service Award, Northern California Region of Child/Adolescent Psychiatrists, 2015
Fellow, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, 2008-2009
Best Teaching Fellow Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard College Committee on Undergraduate Education, 2005
Fellow, Asian Pacific Islander American Initiative, U.S. White House, 2001
Community Health Fellow, George Soros Open Society Institute, 2001