As part of our “Women on Wednesdays” series, please join the Women & Politics Institute for a virtual discussion on how women are playing major leadership roles in the fight to end the most deadly and debilitating preventable health threat to the nation – tobacco use.

WPI Executive Director Betsy Fischer Martin will facilitate the panel discussion with former Congresswoman Donna Shalala (FL-D), Dr. Patrice Harris, the immediate past president of the American Medical Association and Laurie Rubiner, Executive Vice President for Domestic Programs of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

A distinguished educator, Donna Shalala was President of the University of Miami (2001-2015), Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987-1993), and President of Hunter College of the City University of New York (1980-1987). One of the most honored academics of her generation, she has been elected to seven national academies including the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has more than five dozen honorary degrees from American and International Universities. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

One of the country’s first Peace Corps Volunteers, her public service also includes serving as Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration for eight years, and Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research in the Carter administration. She also represented Florida’s 27th District which includes most of Miami.

In 2008 President George W. Bush selected her as the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civilian award. She was named “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). Congresswoman Shalala received her A.B. from Western College for Women and her PhD from Syracuse University.

Dr. Patrice Harris is a leading physician in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia specializing in Adult, Child, Adolescent & Forensic Psychiatry. She is the 174th (immediate past) president of the American Medical Association, serving as the first African-American woman in that role. Dr. Harris continues her national leadership role and stature within the medical profession and the nation as a member of the American Medical Association's Board of Trustees, serving on a number of important task forces, such as chair of the AMA's Opioids Task Force and the health information technology task force.

In addition to her private practice she has engaged in advocacy and public service. Dr. Harris serves as an adjunct professor with Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and with the Morehouse College School of Medicine. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association and as a past president of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association. Early in her career, she became senior policy fellow and lobbyist for the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic, and in 2005, Dr. Harris joined the Fulton County Department of Health Services as Medical Director of its Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Department and from 2009-2015 as Director of Health Services.

Dr. Harris received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, her Masters of Arts degree in Adult Counseling and her M.D. degree all from West Virginia University.

Laurie Rubiner is Executive Vice President for Domestic Programs at the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the leading advocacy organization working to reduce tobacco use and its deadly consequences in the United States and around the world. She has more than 25 years of experience in Congress and the non-profit sector. She was Special Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, Chief of Staff to Senator Richard Blumenthal, Legislative Director to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Legislative Assistant to the late Republican Senator John H. Chafee. She was Vice President for Public Policy and Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, inaugural director of the Universal Health Care Program at the New America Foundation, and Vice President for Programs and Public Policy at the National Partnership for Women & Families.

Laurie received her B.A. in English from Barnard College and J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center where she has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law. She is a member of the board of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and was one of the founding board members of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.

Betsy Fischer Martin is an Emmy-winning journalist and former TV news executive. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University and a faculty member in the School of Public Affairs, where she teaches courses on campaigns and elections. During her earlier career in television news, she spent 23 years at NBC News serving as the longtime Executive Producer of Meet the Press with Tim Russert and as the Managing Editor of NBC News Political Programming.

A native of New Orleans, Fischer Martin did her undergraduate and graduate work at American University in Washington, DC. She is a cum laude graduate of their School of Public Affairs and earned a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the AU School of Communication.

“Women On Wednesdays”- Women, Tobacco Use, and the Road Ahead