Katherine C. McKenzie, FACP
Cards
About
Titles
Associate Professor of Medicine (General Medicine)
Director, Yale Center for Asylum Medicine, Internal Medicine
Biography
Katherine C. McKenzie, MD, FACP is a faculty member at Yale School of Medicine and the director of the Yale Center for Asylum Medicine (YCAM). She has practiced medicine at Yale for over 25 years. She teaches undergraduates, students, and residents, and is a member of Yale Refugee Health Program. She is a physician advocate for social justice and human rights.
Dr. McKenzie founded and directs YCAM. In this capacity, she has performed forensic evaluations of asylum seekers at Yale and in detention facilities, and has testified as an expert witness in immigration court for individuals referred by law schools, human rights organizations, and immigration attorneys. She leads the asylum medicine teaching program for trainees and faculty at Yale, mentors healthcare providers across the US, and lectures extensively nationally and internationally on topics of asylum, detention, and physician advocacy. She is an expert advisor for Physicians for Human Rights and serves on the boards of the Society for Refugee Healthcare Providers, Project Access New Haven, and Integrated Refugee and Immigrants Services. She is involved in medical-legal partnerships and collaborates with attorneys on civil litigation that supports human rights. She is a founder and director of the Society of Asylum Medicine.
She has written reviews, clinical case reports and opinion essays in publications including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the British Medical Journal, Time magazine and CNN, among many others.
At Yale, she received the Leonard B. Tow Award for Humanism in Medicine and the Faculty Award for Achievement in Clinical Care. She has been named a “Top Doctor” by Connecticut Magazine for many years. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and has been certified with the American Board of Internal Medicine since 1995.
Appointments
General Internal Medicine
Associate Professor on TermPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Intern and Resident
- University Hospital, Boston, MA (1995)
- MD
- Boston University School of Medicine (1992)
- BA
- University of Colorado at Boulder (1987)
Research
Overview
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Academic Achievements and Community Involvement
Clinical Care
Overview
Katherine McKenzie, MD, practices general internal medicine at the Cornell Scott Hill Health and is the director of the Yale Center for Asylum Medicine (YCAM). YCAM faculty perform medical forensic evaluations of individuals seeking asylum. She is also a faculty member of the Yale Refugee Program.
She and her colleagues document physical and psychological scars related to persecution they have experienced in their home countries and write affidavits that outline these findings for use in immigration court.
Eager to expand these services nationwide, Dr. McKenzie was a part of the team in 2021 that launched the Society of Asylum Medicine (SAM). She also edited “Asylum Medicine: A Clinician’s Guide,” a first-of-its-kind text that was published in 2022.
Dr. McKenzie is an assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) at Yale School of Medicine.
Clinical Specialties
Yale Medicine News
Links & Media
Media
- Dr. McKenzie and Dr. Farhadian examine a political asylum applicant.
News
- May 20, 2024
Recognizing Outstanding Teaching at Yale School of Medicine
- May 04, 2023
Department of Internal Medicine Promotions
- July 26, 2022
Groundbreaking Achievements in Asylum Medicine
- January 14, 2022
Helping asylum-seekers find sanctuary