Dr. Michele Barry, MD FACP FASTMH, on April 15 received the Distinguished Leadership Award — the highest honor bestowed by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health during its annual conference. Barry is Stanford’s senior associate dean of global health, Shenson Professor, and director of the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health.

The Distinguished Leadership Award honors a global health leader who has “made an exceptional contribution to improving global health, through interdisciplinary activities across research, education, advocacy and/or service.” Awardees have also shown outstanding leadership resulting in lasting global health improvements, particularly for the world’s poor, and played a pivotal role in advancing global health policies that improve the health of people and the planet.

In presenting the honor, CUGH Board President Dr. Maureen Lichtveld noted that Barry had not only checked all those boxes, but that she’d done so multiple times.

“Michele is the person who is a mentor for all of us in this room and for all of us around the world,” Lichtveld added.

Barry’s contributions to developing and nurturing diverse global health leadership are many. In 2017, she launched WomenLift Health, a global nonprofit, now funded by the Gates Foundation, which is accelerating the advancement of talented women into senior leadership in medicine. As the founder of the Stanford/YaleGlobal Health Scholars Program and a leader of the NIH/Fogarty Global Health Equity Scholars program, she has sent more than 1,000 physicians overseas to underserved areas.  Barry is also the recipient of the Elizabeth Blackwell Award for mentoring women in the U.S. towards careers in medicine.