Who We Are

Leadership and Staff

C. Nicholas Cuneo, MD, MPH

Co-Founder and Executive Director

Dr. C. Nicholas (Nick) Cuneo is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with a joint appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he is affiliated with the Center for Public Health and Human Rights and the Center for Humanitarian Health. In addition to his work as the co-founding Medical Director of the HEAL Collaborative, Dr. Cuneo works as an academic hospitalist for children and adults at Johns Hopkins Hospital and provides full-spectrum pediatric care at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He currently serves as co-lead of the national Asylum Medicine Training Initiative.

Dr. Cuneo has extensive global health research and program management experience, particularly in Haiti, where he was a Harvard Medical School Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellow, and South Africa, where he was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Public Health.

Dr. Cuneo is a graduate of the Harvard Brigham & Women’s Hospital/Boston Children’s Hospital Medicine-Pediatric Residency and served as chief resident for the Doris and Howard Hiatt Residency in Global Health Equity at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. He earned his B.S. in biology and anthropology at Duke University, his M.D. at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and his M.P.H. in clinical effectiveness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Nouf Bazaz, PhD

Co-Founder and Mental Health Director

Dr. Nouf Bazaz is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola University Maryland and HEAL’s co-founder and Mental Health Director.

Her clinical work, research, training and consulting focuses on trauma, torture, grief, and loss with survivors of war, violence, and persecution, as well as on culturally responsive care for Muslim youth and families. Dr. Bazaz was the program director of a mental health agency in Maryland serving refugees and immigrants from the Middle East, South Asia and North/East/West Africa, a program which she built from the ground up. She has developed integrative community mental health programs in schools and communities around the state. In her clinical and broader psycho-social work, Dr. Bazaz has served diverse refugees, queer and trans asylum seekers, BIPOC youth, incarcerated males, survivors of sexual trafficking, indigenous women and more. At Loyola she served as an Equity and Inclusion Faculty Fellow from 2020 - 2021.

Dr. Bazaz holds a Ph.D. in Counseling from George Washington University, an M.A. in Trauma and Violence Transdisciplinary Studies from New York University. She has been shaped by her work as an artist, arts-activist and former work as a doula. Dr. Bazaz is from Kashmir and raised in New York, but has lived and worked in the DC/Maryland area for 15 years.

Amelita Woodruff, MD

Medical Director

Dr. Amelita Woodruff is a licensed and Family Medicine board certified physician trained in the United States. She completed medical school in 2017 at the Medical College of Georgia Augusta University, and completed residency and fellowship training at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Woodruff has extensive experience in the evaluation of asylum seekers and leads a curriculum on trauma informed care for resident physicians in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Woodruff is currently the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Division of Hospital Medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Nicole Warren, PhD, MPH, CNM

Associate Director for Women’s Health

Dr. Nicole Warren is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON), where she combines research, clinical practice, and teaching in reproductive health. Her work is guided by a commitment to Respectful Maternity Care and eliminating mistreatment of childbearing persons. She is an international expert in supporting women affected by female genital mutilation/cutting who brings decades of experience in reproductive health to the HEAL leadership team. Nicole oversees HEAL’s gynecological forensic evaluations, and ensure HEAL is enacting best practices in gynecological care to survivors of torture and trauma. Dr. Warren is an award-winning teacher with specialized training in service-learning pedagogy and has collaborated with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Women’s Health. Dr. Warren holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and is a Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM).

Phillip Wagner, MD

Associate Medical Director

Dr. Phillip Wagner is a board-certified internist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed his medical degree at the University of Pittsburgh and residency in Internal Medicine with a focus on global health and underserved populations at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. At Johns Hopkins, he serves as an academic clinician, Director of Medicine Consult and Co-Management Services, and Associate Medical Director of the HEAL Refugee Health and Asylum Clinic. His academic work centers on perioperative medicine and the care of underserved populations.

Edwin Betancourth, MD

Strategic & Clinical Programs Consultant

Dr. Edwin Betancourth is a physician and healthcare leader with extensive experience in clinical practice, healthcare administration, and international program development. Dr. Betancourth advanced to leadership roles as International Director of Medical Services and ultimately Chief Operating Officer for NPH International, overseeing healthcare services and organizational operations in nine countries in Latin America. Alongside his leadership responsibilities, he pursued a master’s degree in healthcare administration while continuing to practice primary care. Dr. Betancourth serves as Strategic and Clinical Programs Consultant with HEAL, where he supports the development of innovative programs to expand access to high-quality, trauma-informed care for immigrant and refugee populations.

Julie Sutton, MPH

Program Coordinator

Tim Treinen, MHS

Program Manager

Timothy Treinen, MHS is the Program Manager for the HEAL Refugee Health & Asylum Collaborative, where he oversees cross-sector operations to expand access to care for asylum seekers and survivors of torture. Tim has extensive experience working with migrant and refugee communities through roles with Refugee Health Alliance in Tijuana, Physicians for Human Rights, and Centro SOL at Johns Hopkins Bayview. A trained medical interpreter, he has supported forensic medical evaluations, health navigation, and trauma-informed care initiatives for asylum seekers. He holds a Master of Health Science in Mental Health and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University.

Program Fellows