Reducing HIV/AIDS Discrimination and Exclusion

Team

Surina Khan

Director New York

Surina Khan is the director of Gender Rights and Equality, overseeing the Ford Foundation's work in three global human rights initiatives: Protecting Women's Rights, Reducing HIV/AIDS Discrimination and Exclusion, and Advancing LGBT Rights. Her team focuses on securing equal access to social, political and economic opportunities for all people—including those most marginalized in society, whether based on gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, citizenship or socioeconomic status. In addition, grant making is directed toward strengthening civil and human rights organizations, and supporting research, legal and policy advocacy efforts to protect rights and achieve equality.

Surina joined the foundation in 2011, as its first LGBT Rights program officer, to develop and design the LGBT initiative.

Over the past two decades, Surina has worked in a variety of capacities to advance the rights of women, LGBT people, and people living with HIV and AIDS. Prior to joining the foundation, Surina served as vice president of programs for the Women's Foundation of California, providing strategic direction for grant making; strengthening the organizational effectiveness of social justice organizations; and overseeing the Women's Policy Institute, a policy advocacy training program for community-based leaders. She previously served as executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, where she worked to advance the human rights of LGBT people and help people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide utilize human rights legal instruments. Surina has also worked as a research analyst for Political Research Associates, conducting groundbreaking research on the ex-gay movement and the anti-LGBT religious right.

Surina was a 2010 Regents' Lecturer in the Community Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her writing and research have been published widely in print and online publications.