Dr. Donna E. Shalala is the former US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). She is professor of political science and president of the University of Miami, and was previously the president of Hunter College of the City University of New York and chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Shalala was appointed to HHS in 1993 by President Clinton. She held the position for eight years, becoming the longest serving HHS Secretary in US history.

She has more than three dozen honorary degrees and a host of other honors, including the 1992 National Public Service Award. She was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by US News & World Report and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 2005. In May 2008 she was selected as an independent director of the US Soccer Federation, and in June 2008 she was awarded the Radcliffe Medal by The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Dr. Shalala was one of the first-ever American Peace Corp volunteers, serving in Iran from 1962 to 1964. And in June 2008, President Bush presented Dr. Shalala with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, at a ceremony in the White House.