The annual Marion Spencer Fay Award was presented to Erica Ollmann Saphire, PhD, MBA, by the Lynn Yeakel Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership on Thursday, November 9, 2023, at Drexel University College of Medicine's Health Sciences Building in University City. Saphire presented a lecture, "How to Turn Competitors Into Collaborators," at 4:30 p.m., immediately followed by the award presentation and reception.

Saphire is the is the president, CEO and a professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology.

She was honored with the 2023 Marion Spencer Fay Award for her transformative, uniquely impactful ongoing research and groundbreaking discoveries in structural virology, as well as her visionary international leadership contributions in immunology and her demonstrated commitment to mentorship.

Learn more about Dr. Saphire

The national Marion Spencer Fay Award, now in its 60th year, is presented annually by the Lynn Yeakel Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership to an outstanding woman physician and/or scientist who has made an exceptionally significant contribution to health care as a practitioner, medical educator, administrator and/or research scientist and who exhibits significant future potential. The award includes a $10,000 honorarium to support the recipient’s work.

The Marion Spencer Fay Award is a national award to honor achievement and excellence in medicine and science and is presented to a woman of distinction, innovation and leadership. Past Marion Spencer Fay Award honorees include Julie Overbaugh, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and Nancy C. Andrews, MD, PhD, dean of Duke University's School of Medicine. Learn more about past honorees.

Marion Spencer Fay, PhD, was dean and president of Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania from 1946 to 1963. The National Board for Women in Medicine established an award in her name in 1963 to recognize her pioneering leadership.

This national award is given annually to a woman physician and/or scientist who has made an exceptionally significant contribution to health care as a practitioner, medical educator, administrator and/or research scientist and who exhibits significant future potential.

Formerly administered by the National Board for Women in Medicine, the award continues under the guidance of the Lynn Yeakel Institute for Women's Health and Leadership of Drexel University College of Medicine, which maintains the traditions of the Woman's Medical College and the Medical College of Pennsylvania that reflect a 160-year legacy of excellence.

• The award recipient is selected from nominations submitted to a special committee, appointed by the Institute, dedicated to the principles of the Marion Spencer Fay Award.
• The presentation ceremony is attended by distinguished academic, medical and scientific leaders and the award includes a $10,000 honorarium to support the recipient's work.