CIRH Executive Director Dr. Sediq Receives Ulysses Medal for Leadership in Refugee and Immigrant Health
The Center for Immigrant and Refugee Health (CIRH) is proud to share that our Executive Director, Dr. Mohammad Sediq Hazratzai, has been awarded the Ulysses Medal for Leadership in Refugee Health from the University of California Davis School of Medicine’s Ulysses Center for Refugee Studies.
Photo credit: Mootens Production
About the Ulysses Medal
The Ulysses Medal recognizes exceptional leaders whose visionary work has made unique contributions to improving the health and well-being of refugee and immigrant communities. Dr. Sediq received this honor in recognition of his longstanding dedication to advancing health equity through compassionate leadership, advocacy, and community-centered approaches.
History
The Ulysses Center for Refugee Studies led by Prof. Dr. Patrick Marius Koga at UC Davis School of Medicine, was built on 17 years of joint effort with co-directors Dr. Joseba Achotegui, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Barcelona, Faculty of Medicine, Spain, and Secretary of Transcultural Section, World Psychiatric Association, Dr. Carl Stempel, Chair of Sociology Dept. at CSU East Bay, and Dr. Qais Alemi, Professor Social Work and Social Ecology at Loma Linda University. Ulysses partnered with 47 CA state and county refugee agencies, clinics, refugee CBOs, and 20 universities from the USA, New Zealand, Lebanon, Egypt, the West Bank/Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, Ukraine, and Türkiye.
Publications
Ulysses has published over 60 peer-reviewed research papers on refugee health, taught courses to medical, public health, nursing, social work, and law students, led medical missions abroad, produced four documentary films screened at Helsinki Refugee Film Festival, Stanford, and UCD, and closely mentored over 300 refugee students, doctors, resident physicians, and postdoc fellows. Ulysses has been featured at international and domestic congresses, conferences, symposia, on Huffington Post, NPR, CapRadio, Afghan, Persian, Russian, and Ukrainian radio, Sacto Cable TV Channel 17, Arab TV, and newspapers.
International Impact
As a leading refugee-driven scholarly center, Ulysses has been recognized with UC and UN awards and received visiting delegations from Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the UK, Belgium, Spain, Malta, Lithuania, Germany, Armenia, Indonesia, and Poland.
Continuing Community-Centered Work
Under Dr. Sediq’s leadership, CIRH has continued to expand programs and partnerships that support immigrant and refugee communities across California. His work has helped strengthen culturally responsive services and foster collaboration among service providers, community-based organizations, and school districts to improve access to care and address the unique needs of diverse communities.
This recognition reflects not only Dr. Sediq’s vision and leadership but also the collective efforts of the CIRH team, partners, and communities who remain committed to advancing equity and improving health outcomes together. Through collaboration and community engagement, CIRH continues to work toward creating more accessible and inclusive systems of care for immigrant and refugee populations.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Sediq on this well-deserved honor and look forward to continuing this important work together.