Dr. Jose Quiroga, a cardiologist and primary physician to Chilean President Salvador Allende, watched from inside the government palace as soldiers went from room to room randomly selecting civilians to execute during General Pinochet's brutal military coup on September 11, 1973. He was detained and beaten, but felt lucky that the general in charge ordered the release of all physicians. In 1977, Quiroga moved his family to Santa Monica, CA after securing a position at UCLA’s School of Public Health. Eventually, he began volunteering to treat victims of torture—after-hours at UCLA and then at the Venice Family Clinic. Currently, Quiroga serves as PTV's Medical Director. He is the author of over 28 publications, and delivered over 40 presentations internationally and domestically on the problem of torture. In 2009, he was honored by Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles with the "Socially Responsible Medicine Award."

Ana Deutsch escaped from Argentina, along with her family, after threats of arrest to those involved in opposition activities were made by the military government. They made their way to Los Angeles with help from the local Jewish community. Deutsch later said, "There (in Argentina) I was a psychoanalyst and a mom. And obviously active and worried, but I enjoyed life with my parents, family, and my work. All that changed." Shortly after enrolling at California State University at Northridge, Deutsch met Quiroga. He was conducting research on torture victims from South America for a project funded by Amnesty International. Deutsch joined the project and assisted him by assessing the victims' psychological well-being. Arriving in Los Angeles as political asylees, Quiroga and Deutsch understood the difficulties of dealing with trauma, and simultaneously having to rebuilding their support system of friends, family and employment. In 1980, they founded Program for Torture Victims. Their personal experiences led them to use a ‘bio-psycho-social’ approach that was pioneered with clients at PTV. As more and more people were referred to them, Deutsch and Quiroga set up offices at the Venice Family Clinic in 1985. Currently, Deutsch is a consultant to the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights based in Costa Rica, and is an expert witness to the Intra-American Human Rights Court. In 2004 First Lady Maria Shriver awarded her the first Minerva Award, honoring women who have made significant contributions to California's women and families. Ana Deutsch is Clinical Director of PTV.