Nani Cuadrado, MSPAS, PA-C is the director for Valley Health Partners (VHP) Street Medicine. She began working as an emergency medicine physician assistant (PA) for the network 18 years ago and began to realize the prevalence of homelessness and its close relationship to human trafficking within her own community. She has been a proud member and supporter of VAST (Valley Against Sex Trafficking) for six years, serving on the organization’s Board since 2017. Six years ago she established a physician assistant team at a local refugee resettlement site to provide health care for unaccompanied minors primarily from Central America many of who were victims of human trafficking or exploitation. As an assistant professor, she taught graduate physician assistant students how to care for the community’s most vulnerable and spearheaded efforts to provide free health care to a local residential home for sex-trafficked women. She is the first physician assistant to be asked to join a national commission against human trafficking for the Christian Medical Dental Association. In 2018, Nani was a TedX speaker and two years ago was a moderator for Emmy-nominated PBS documentary about human trafficking. In 2019 she was asked to serve on an expert work group for the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, and the Office of Population Affairs to review the intersection of human trafficking and family planning services.

Reviewer Keywords