Robert Wood Johnson Foundation presents 2009 Community Health Leaders Award to Uwe Jacobs, Ph.D., for improving the lives of torture victims from around the world
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced its selection of Dr. Uwe Jacobs, clinical and executive director of Survivors International, San Francisco, to receive a Community Health Leaders Award. He is one of 10 extraordinary Americans who will receive the RWJF honor for 2009 at a ceremony this evening at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Jacobs has provided therapeutic care to more than 1,000 individuals who have experienced torture (www.survivorsintl.org). He is also a leader in efforts to officially recognize and define gender-based violence as torture. "Dr. Jacobs has organized an outstanding interdisciplinary team of individuals from the health professions and the legal profession to help victims of torture to heal and rebuild their lives," said Janice Ford Griffin, national program director for the award. "He is a leader in the effort to expand the legal definition of torture to encompass individuals who have suffered at the hands of non-uniformed actors."
In working with a wide array of people from different nations and backgrounds, and with victims of genocide from around the world, Jacobs realized that a lot of the people who were being persecuted were victims of domestic violence, female genital mutilation, sex trafficking and the threat of honor killings. Seeing the tremendous need, he developed a program to provide services to victims of gender-based violence who seek asylum in the United States. This program has demonstrated that survivors of gender-based violence have levels of trauma that are comparable to those of most torture victims.
"I am deeply honored by this award, and I hope it brings attention to the importance of helping victims of torture to heal," said Jacobs. "I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all the lawyers who help these victims obtain asylum so that they can truly begin to rebuild their lives."
Jeffrey S. Kaye, Ph.D., a staff clinician at Survivors International, said that in his opinion, "Dr. Jacobs' greatest contribution-possibly his greatest talent-is his ability to transfer his considerable clinical experience and knowledge to the greater community."