This event has already taken place.
APRIL 23, 2026 | 7:00-8:30PM ET
(via Zoom)
Click below to watch a video recording of the event.
EVENT DETAILS
PANEL DISCUSSION
Dismantling Sexual Assault is the first in a three-part series, Transforming Cultures of Domestic Violence, hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of New York Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault.
This opening session focuses on confronting the realities of sexual violence and advancing meaningful prevention and response. The panel discussion brings together voices from our communities committed to examining how deeply embedded systems of power, inequality, and cultural norms contribute to environments where abuse persists—and too often goes unchallenged.
Through thoughtful dialogue, the panel will explore how individuals, communities, and institutions can move beyond silence, disbelief, and stigma to create spaces of accountability, healing, and justice.
Panelists will address what keeps survivors from speaking out, what supports true recovery, and how we can collectively shift from reactive responses to proactive prevention—working toward a culture where dignity, safety, and equity are upheld for all.
PANELISTS
Moderator: Lindsey Curtis
Training, Outreach and Education Supervisor, Mt. Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program (Savi), New York
Gilbert Kliman, MD
Psychoanalyst, Forensic Science Expert Witness and Advocate, Medical Director, Harlem Family Services Social Justice Division, Medical Director, Preventive Psychiatry Associates Medical Group Inc.
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Cécile Mazzacurati works for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund – the sexual and reproductive health agency of the UN. She is the gender advisor with UNFPA’s New York Headquarters. She returns from the West and Central Africa Regional Office where she was the regional advisor on gender and human rights for the past three years.
Cécile has 20 years of experience with different United Nations entities on youth and gender in development, peacebuilding and humanitarian settings.
A French national, Cécile studied History at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in France and holds a Masters degree in History from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
Brother Wayne Weston
Professor and Advocate, Gender and Domestic Violence Studies in the Lakota Tradition, Oglala Lakota College, Kyle, South Dakota
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Dr. Padmini (Mini) Murthy is a globally recognized health professional in her roles as a physician and public health expert. Her research interests focus on women’ s health, human rights and global health diplomacy and AI in health care and femtech.
She is currently Professor and Global Health Director at New York Medical College School and NYMC School of Health Sciences and Practice, USA and past chair of Inter Sectional Council of APHA and past chair of the International Health Section of American Public Health Association and is the Global Health lead for the American Medical Women’s Association and the NGO rep to United Nations. Currently she serves as an advisor to 2 start up companies in AI and Health Care
She has worked as a consultant with the United Nations Population Fund.
Murthy has been appointed as co focal point for United Nations SDG 3 Hub at NYMCSHSP. Dr. Murthy has been working with UN ambassadors, first ladies and UN missions to promote women’s health globally with local efforts in Bahamas, Grenada, India, Liberia Malawi, Nepal and Republic of Suriname
During the COVID crisis in 2020/ 2021 Murthy has spearheaded efforts working with other NGOs to provide relief to India, Italy, and Navajo nation. She has been interviewed by yahoo, CNN, sky news and other media channels.
Dr. Murthy has made over 300 presentations nationally and internationally. Murthy has been asked to speak at various high-level events at various international venues such as the United Nations, World Health Organization and at the COP 28 at Dubai where she organized a panel with two first ladies on Gender and Health
She is widely published and is the author and editor of Women’s Global Health and Human Rights, Technology and Global Public Health. Her other books include Mini’s Musings and Glorious Global Ganesh. She is currently working on her 5th book on Women Achievers.
Dr. Murthy has been the recipient of numerous national and international awards.
Juana Cortes de Torres, Esq.
Attorney and Advocate, Director of the Immigrant Legal Rights Project, Rural and Migrant Ministries of New York
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Shael Norris is the Founding Executive Director of SafeBAE, the only US national survivor-founded, youth-led organization working to prevent sexual violence among teens. She has dedicated her career to ending sexual violence and empowering youth activism. As a young activist herself, she was a founding staffer of V-Day, overseeing all benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” on college campuses and communities, across the world from 1999-2016. It was the impact of the significant presence of V-Day on college campuses that led to her creation of the “Campus Accountability Project” (in 2007) calling for improved prevention and response to sexual violence on college campuses. It was this higher education prevention work, that led her to advocate for the creation of youth-led prevention programming among secondary students. In 2014, she began to seek funding and youth partners to establish SafeBAE, culminating in its creation in 2015, in partnership with Daisy and Charlie Coleman, Ella Fairon, and Jada Smith. Shael’s data from SafeBAE’s 2019 Summit is published in the 2024 Journal of Child Sexual Abuse.
For more information or questions, please contact:
The Rev. Dr. Victoria Jeanne Rollins, at rollins.revdrvictoria@gmail.com
Bethann Carbone, Branding Ovation, at bethann@brandingovation.com
