About Saheli Board

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SAHELI ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION - SAHELI EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Usha Vakil - Chair
Usha is a founding member of Saheli and has been an executive committee member since its inception in August 1996. She presently serves as the Chair of Saheli. She is also the program leader for providing information and resources in the Legal and Immigration service area. She has received the domestic violence training program and supports the domestic violence and all other Saheli programs as needed. She is a director of the India Association of Greater Boston. Usha is a Senior Project Manager at Iron Mountain, a computer company.

Lija Joseph MD. Vice-Chair
Lija is an Associate Professor at Boston University School of Medicine in the Department of Pathology. She leads the Saheli Health programs. She has been working with Saheli since 2005 serving as a liaison in coordinating the health workshops, conferences and seminars. She currently serves as the vice chair, and coordinates Saheli’s many programs with Usha Vakil, including fund raising and community outreach.

Rekha Singh. Treasurer
Rekha is currently the practice manager for the Adult and Pediatric Urology Center in Stoughton. She has a Masters degree in Behavioral Psychology, and until 1999, worked as a behavioral therapist working primarily with brain injured adults and children. She has volunteered with women's organizations in New York and Maryland, including Women In Self-Help (WISH). Rekha has been involved with Saheli since 1997. She has served on the executive board since 2002, and has been the treasurer of Saheli since 2003. She manages Saheli's finances, including coordinating with grant and fundraising activities, and tracking Saheli's budget, expenses, and payroll.

Barinder Ahluwalia. Saheli New Hampshire
Barinder has a degree in Computer Science but left work to raise her son. Right now she is working as a substitute teacher from K-12. She has received training to work with survivors of domestic violence and coordinates the programs in New Hampshire. Barinder is a trained legal interpreter, and chair person for the Public Service of Indian Association of New Hampshire (IANH) for the last 6 years. As Chair she has helped expand cooking and serving programs at homeless shelters in Manchester and Nashua. She has successfully launched a Saheli-NH Chapter under the IANH public service initiative. She has been helping women survivors and is working hard to establish Saheli in NH.

Gouri Banerjee, Ph. D.
Gouri Banerjee, Ph. D. Gouri leads the program in Computer Literacy. Gouri, a founding member of Saheli, has been a member of the Board for twelve years. In the twelve years she led the Domestic Violence Program, she counseled and helped innumerable women survivors, worked to educate the South Asian community about violence in the home, spoken on behalf of Saheli at many community events and helped in the selection of members to the Saheli Executive Committee. In 2005 Gouri was selected by India New England News to be the Woman of the Year. As leader of the computer literacy program, Gouri has developed the curriculum for the computer classes, created materials for Saheli's website and taken leadership on many Saheli events. She has supervised Saheli interns and connected Saheli to student groups such as those at Harvard, Boston University, Northeastern U, Brandeis U and Emmanuel College.

Reshma Soni
Reshma is a financial service representative at Countrywide Bank. She has been a very active member of Saheli and Gurjar, the Gujarathi Association of Boston. Reshma coordinates English language classes, helped set up ESOL classes in Billerica and has successfully established the program. Starting with two students and conducting the classes in the basement of her home, she now has seven students and the classes are taught in Billerica Library. She has volunteered at various SAHELI events. Reshma has also provided help and support to women in crises.

Anita Raj, Ph.D.
Anita is Developmental Psychologist with 15 years experiencing conducting research on sexual and reproductive health/HIV/STI, gender-based violence, substance misuse and abuse and the intersection of these issues. This work includes research to support intervention development and implementation, as well as efficacy and effectiveness trials to evaluate behavioral interventions. She and her research team polled 160 South Asian women in the Boston area who were either married or in a current relationship. She has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on more than 20 federally funded research studies, and she has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications from these efforts. Much of her work has focused on vulnerable populations including women, racial/ethnic minorities and immigrants in the United States, as well as lower income and health-compromised individuals in South Asia and Russia. Anita Raj has been a SAHELI Grant Writer and one of SAHELI's most active members. Besides her work with Saheli, Raj is a member of the South Asian Advisory Board of Boston's Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence.