Popowski, Deborah

Position

Kaufman-Skirball Fellow

Biography

Deborah Popowski joined the Center for Constitutional Rights in September 2008.  She works with both the Education/Outreach and Legal Departments to develop alternative forms of accountability for U.S. health professionals involved in torture, both in domestic and foreign settings.

Current projects include supporting legislation to reform state health professional codes; coordinating the filing of complaints before state licensing boards; creating a public education website; and providing support for Guantanamo habeas counsel advocating on behalf of clients who have suffered medical and other health-related abuse.  Her fellowship is supported by grants from Harvard Law School and her duties include working with students at Harvard’s International Human Rights Clinic.

Deborah’s past experience includes work with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the UN Committee against Torture, and Justiça Global, a Brazilian NGO that litigates before the Inter-American system of human rights.  Before law school, Deborah lived in Latin America, Africa, and the US, working or interning with the US Peace Corps, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and the Epidavros Project, a nonprofit film production company.  She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has a degree in Political and Social Thought from the University of Virginia.  She speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Zarma.