Adeyinka Akinsulure-Smith, Ph.D.

Dr. Akinsulure-Smith is a licensed psychologist who is originally from Sierra Leone. She is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the City College of New York, the City University of New York (CUNY) and at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She has cared for forced migrants, as well as survivors of torture, armed conflict, and human rights abuses from around the world at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture since 1999. A proud co-founder of Nah We Yone, Inc., a non-profit organization (1997-2010) created to proactively respond to war survivors from the African Diaspora, Dr. Akinsulure-Smith and her co-founders at Nah We Yone were among the 2003 recipients of New York City’s prestigious Union Square Awards. In 2005, she received Teachers College, Columbia University’s “Early Career Award.” From 2008-2010, Dr. Akinsulure-Smith served on the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Psychological effect of war on children and families who are refugees from armed conflicts residing in the United States (PEWCF). She has participated in human rights investigations in Sierra Leone with Physicians for Human Rights and the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, Human Rights Division and served as a joint expert on gender crimes and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for the International Criminal Court. Dr. Akinsulure-Smith’s work has included developing and examining mental health interventions in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. In addition to her teaching and clinical work, Dr. Akinsulure-Smith is the recipient of several grants, including a 2014-2015 Fulbright Africa Regional Research Program award. She is currently the PI of an NIH-funded project to examine Female Genital Cutting among African immigrants and service providers in the United States. Drawing on her considerable experiences providing therapeutic services to diverse populations and on her ongoing research projects, Dr. Akinsulure-Smith has written extensively about service provision to and mental health challenges facing forced migrants, including recent scholarly publications in Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Journal of Child and Family Studies, Human Development, PLOS, Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health, American Journal of Community Psychology, and Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma.