RRSC Board of Directors

Born and raised in the SF Bay Area, the traditional territory of the Ohlone people, Sarah has spent the last 25+ years serving persons who are low income, mentally ill, and substance addicted in her community as a mental health worker. She is a certified drug and alcohol counselor and LCSW. She earned her MSW from CSU, East Bay (2017). She also has a BA in Religion with a minor in philosophy and a minor in women and gender studies from Dominican University and a master’s in religion and psychology from the GTU with a Certificate in Islamic Studies (2009). She is a visiting scholar at the GTU and works full-time in addiction treatment.

Tyler Shields recently graduated from Columbia School of Social Work with her MSW and is currently working on hours towards licensing at Heritage Psychiatric Facility. Tyler is passionate about harm reduction, connection, and recovery. With a 10 year career in mental health, Tyler has worked in residential programs, outpatient therapy, case management and now inpatient psych. She is a proponent of making recovery more accessible and realistic for a wider range of people and needs by meeting people where they are rather than where we would like them to be. Tyler believes that recovery can look different for everyone and that the roots of recovery include compassion and connection. In her free time, Tyler likes to attend live music events, take soul cycle classes and volunteer with the Bay Area chapter of DanceSafe. 

Imhotep Al-Basiel is an acupuncture physician since the age of 25, a chi gung doctor, trained by the head of the Shaolin temple, and tai chi Master with 50 years of experience. He is based in Berkeley, California, and has experience in counter-terrorism software development and classified government projects. Additionally, he has a musical presence on platforms like Apple Music.

Dr. Amber Haque is the Director of Muslim Family Services at ICNA Relief USA. He previously served as a full professor and director of clinical psychology master’s programs in Qatar and the UAE. Additionally, he was an associate professor and head of the psychology department at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Dr. Haque practiced psychology in Michigan for over a decade before transitioning to academia. He earned his Ph.D. in psychology from Western Michigan University and his MS in clinical psychology from Eastern Michigan University. In addition to his extensive experience as an academic and administrator, he has been a visiting scholar at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania. He also taught in Bosnia and was an invited adjunct faculty member at Aligarh Muslim University in India. Dr. Haque has been an editorial board member for four academic journals and a reviewer for forty international peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Norman joined the UCSF faculty in 1981 and has served as an attending physician at UCSF’s Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital (LPPH) for more than 35 years. He has focused much of his practice on developing innovative clinical programs for adolescents and young adults. In 2004, Dr. Norman founded the UCSF Young Adult and Family Clinic (YAFC) as one of the nation’s first academically based psychiatry programs dedicated to extending care to transitional-aged youth, young adults, and their families.

Dr. Farha Abbasi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Michigan State University and core faculty member of the Muslim Studies Program. She is from Pakistan and settled in the United States in the year 2000 with her three daughters. Her areas of interest are cultural psychiatry and teaching medical students culturally appropriate care to Muslim patients. She works directly with Muslim American community to encourage integration rather than isolation from mainstream society. She works relentlessly and tirelessly towards one goal: Learning to coexist and go beyond our differences to reach the common point of peace and prosperity.