Antonia Coello Novello is a Puerto Rican physician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as 14th Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Novello was the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as Surgeon General. Novello also served as Commissioner of Health for the State of New York from 1999 to 2006. Novello has received numerous awards including more than fifty honorary degrees,was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2000,and has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Her memoir,Duty Calls:Lessons Learned from an Unexpected Life of Service,was published in 2024.
Cheri Blauwet is an American physician and Paralympic wheelchair racer. She is Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Sports Medicine,is associate professor of PM&R at Harvard Medical School and an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She has competed at the Paralympic level in events ranging from the 100 meters to the marathon.
Regina Marcia Benjamin is an American physician and a former vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States. Benjamin previously directed a nonprofit primary care medical clinic in Bayou La Batre,Alabama,and served on the board of trustees for the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Christine K. Cassel is a leading expert in geriatric medicine,medical ethics and quality of care. She is planning dean of the new Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine. Until March 2016,she was president and CEO of the National Quality Forum. Previously,Cassel served as president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation.
Carola Blitzman Eisenberg was an Argentine-American psychiatrist who became the first woman to hold the position of Dean of Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1990,she was the dean of student affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She was a long-time lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. She was also both a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights and an honorary psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. After retiring,she was involved in human rights work through Physicians for Human Rights,the Institute for Healthcare Improvement,and elsewhere. She turned 100 in September 2017 and died in Lincoln,Massachusetts,in March 2021 at the age of 103.
Karen Eileen Spilka is an American politician and attorney serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate. She represents the towns of Ashland,Framingham,Holliston,Hopkinton,Medway and Natick in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. She has served as the 95th President of the Massachusetts Senate since July 2018. Previously she served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005.
Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey is an American medical doctor and executive who served as president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 2003 to 2017. She was the first woman and the first African-American to head the foundation,which has an endowment of about $8 billion and distributes more than $400 million a year. She has been named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes several times,and one of The Grio's History Makers in the Making. She was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Nancy J. Lescavage is a retired American rear admiral who served as the 20th director of the Navy Nurse Corps and was the commander of Naval Medical Education and Training Command,Bethesda,Maryland.
Carolyn (Coyne) Dykema was the Massachusetts state representative from the Massachusetts House of Representatives' 8th Middlesex district from 2009 until her resignation to take a private sector job in 2022.
Ann L. McLane Kuster is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party,she previously worked as a lobbyist.
Lee Nelken Robins was an American professor of social science in psychiatry and a leader in psychiatric epidemiology research. She was affiliated with the Washington University in St. Louis for more than 50 years from 1954 until 2007.
Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has served as House Minority Whip since 2023 and the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She previously served as Assistant Speaker from 2021 to 2023 and Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2021. Clark was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011 and the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013.
Harriette L. Chandler is an American politician who was the 94th President of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts State Senator for the 1st Worcester district,which includes parts of the city of Worcester,where she resides,and the towns of Boylston,Holden,Princeton,and West Boylston,and parts of Clinton and Northborough. She is a Democrat who has served since January 2001. From 1995 to 2001 she was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature,she was a member of the Worcester school committee from 1991 to 1994. She is the first woman from Worcester ever to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate.
Bellaflor Javier Angara-Castillo,simply known as Bella Angara,is a former member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing the lone district of Aurora. She previously served three consecutive terms as governor of Aurora province from 2004 to 2013. She was the third female governor of Aurora province. Prior to being governor,she served three consecutive terms as representative of the lone district of Aurora from 1995 to 2004. She was the first and so far the only woman in the history of the Philippine Congress to become House majority floor leader.
Mildred Z. Solomon is an American bioethics researcher.
Cindy F. Friedman is an American politician currently serving as a state senator representing the 4th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts Senate. Friedman's district comprises Arlington,Billerica,Burlington,Lexington,and Woburn. She has been serving since 2017. Prior to becoming a state senator,Friedman worked as a public school teacher and as a senior manager in the high-tech industry and later served for nearly a decade as chief of staff to the late state senator Ken Donnelly. During her first term,Friedman served as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health,Substance Use and Recovery. For the 191st General Court,Friedman serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing and is vice chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
Lisa I. Iezzoni is an American medical researcher with expertise in health policy. She is a professor at Harvard Medical School,as well as the director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is known for her research on health disparities among people with disabilities.
Valerie Montgomery Rice is an American obstetrician,gynecologist,and college administrator. She is the president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine.
Julian M. Goldman is an American physician and Medical Director of Biomedical Engineering at Mass General Brigham. He is the creator of Plug and Play Interoperability Research Program set up to promote innovation in patient safety and clinical care improve patient safety and make healthcare more efficient. He has been part of both the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Fatima Cody Stanford is an American obesity medicine physician,internist,and pediatrician and an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She is one of the most highly cited scientists in the field of obesity. She is recognized for shifting the global perception of obesity as a chronic disease.
