Dr. Suzan Song, MD, MPH, PhD, is a Harvard-and Stanford-trained psychiatrist, medical anthropologist, and author of the forthcoming book Why We Suffer and How We Heal (Harmony/ Penguin Random House, 2026). With two decades of experience supporting individuals, communities, and systems through crisis, she has advised organizations such as the U.S. State Department, UNICEF, and the UN Refugee Agency on trauma recovery and resilience, working in settings ranging from refugee camps and post-genocide villages to government agencies and corporate leadership circles.

Dr. Song brings an interdisciplinary approach to healing, drawing from neuroscience, clinical psychiatry, and cultural frameworks rooted in her work across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe, as well as with tech leaders, healthcare professionals, and political officials navigating high-stakes environments. She previously served as the founding Director of Global Child and Family Mental Health at Harvard’s Boston Children’s Hospital and held professorial appointments at both Harvard and George Washington University. She is also the founding CEO of Global Collective Institute, a nonprofit think-and-do tank that supports humanitarian agencies and public systems through research, advising, and culturally grounded mental health innovation.

Rooted in her personal story as the daughter of Korean immigrants who ran a liquor store outside Baltimore, Dr. Song speaks and writes about how individuals and institutions can embrace instability with clarity, compassion, and purpose. Her work has been featured on NPR, MSNBC, U.S. News & World Report, and other media outlets, and she regularly presents to audiences in healthcare, humanitarian, philanthropic, and corporate sectors.