Acacia Shields is a human rights researcher and advocate. A former senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, Shields has more than 15 years field experience documenting and writing about human rights abuses, including violence against women, police abuse and torture, religious persecution, and violations of LGBT rights. She has testified before the U.S. Congress, delivered lectures at Columbia University and Georgetown Law Center, and provided numerous television, radio, and newspaper interviews on human rights topics. Shields has been a consultant to the Open Society Foundations since 2007. Her recent work in this role has focused on the intersection between human rights and public health. She has edited reports on violence and discrimination against LGBT people, police violence against sex workers, and discrimination against drug users and people with disabilities by health care providers.