Donna E. Shalala

Donna E. Shalala is a distinguished scholar and educator and current Trustee Professor of Political Science and Health Policy at the University of Miami. One of the most honoured academic leaders of her generation, she has been elected to seven national academies, including the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

She served as President of Hunter College; Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and President of the University of Miami.

Professor Shalala is one of the country’s first Peace Corps Volunteers (Iran). Her public service also includes serving as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration for eight years. In 2008 President George W. Bush selected her as the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, the nation’s highest civilian award. She was named one of ‘America’s Best Leaders’ by U.S. News & World Report (2005), received the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights (2010), and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame (2011).

Professor Shalala received her A.B. from Western College for Women and her PhD from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.