January 5, 2016

On Friday, November 20, 2015, a group of 18 faculty and students from Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health, College of Computing and Informatics and College of Medicine travelled to United Nations headquarters in New York City to attend Women's Entrepreneurship Day, as part of the United Nations Seventieth Anniversary Initiative (UN@70).

Over 144 countries were represented in a week filled with activities related to Women's Entrepreneurship Day. The culminating day's events celebrated and supported women as founders and developers, owners and thought leaders. Participants discussed new UN Sustainable Development Goals as a platform to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Shannon Marquez, PhD, MEng, associate vice provost for Global Health at Drexel and director of the Dornsife SPH Office of Global Health, gave inspiring remarks on poverty alleviation, social entrepreneurship and the need to train the next generation of global health leaders and social entrepreneurs. "Future leaders will need to develop critical solutions to continue the ongoing progress for women and girls around the world and address the challenge of making the UN Sustainable Development Goals truly sustainable," noted Marquez.

In acknowledgement of her commitment to global health and capacity building, and her leadership at Drexel and around the world, the UNESCO Center for Global Education presented Dr. Marquez with the "Torchbearer for Change" award.

"Thought leaders and social entrepreneurs in the health sector realize that success isn't about how much money you make, it's about the difference you make in people's lives," said Marquez. "Social enterprises in the heath sector have delivered for girls and women, they have provided support mechanisms, small loans, health technologies in developing countries. [They have] changed lives by addressing issues of health and gender equality, and many have been led by women for women."

Whether global or local, Drexel students, staff, and faculty are committed to women's empowerment.