Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence
Betsy Williams is an American social entrepreneur and philanthropist whose professional experiences in West Africa have informed her investments and volunteer service over the last two decades – in global health, inclusive economic growth, citizen-centered governance, human rights, the arts, and opportunities for women in spaces ranging from public service to professional sports.
Ms. Williams’s service to support the administration of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf led to her founding Emerging Public Leaders (EPL), a pan-African NGO that recruits, trains, supports, and connects a new generation of civil servants devoted to a prosperous and equitable continent. Ms. Williams chairs EPL’s global board as the organization expands its signature fellowship program and EPL alumni ascend to senior positions in their nations’ governments.
Ms. Williams has spent her career at the intersection of social development, foreign policy, and global health, launching and supporting innovative programs at USAID, JSI, Asia Society and Physicians for Human Rights.
Today, Ms. Williams serves on the board of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Foundation, and she was a founding board member of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development. She is the recipient of the 2025 Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence and in 2017 was conferred National Honors by H. E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, awarded Dame Office, Most Venerable Order of the Pioneer. Ms. Williams lives with her two daughters and husband – a career civil servant she met in Liberia. Together, they are active investors and fans of women’s global sports and steadfast patrons to Children’s National Medical Center, the Washington International School and the Lab School.
Recipients of the Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence:
- 2025: Betsy Helen Williams, MPH’02
- 2024: Kathleen Crowley, DrPH’13, MPH’91, PA-C and Gail Emrick, MPH’87, MIA'87
- 2022: Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH
- 2021: Dr. Melanie Bernitz, Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, Dr. Donna Lynne
- 2020: Leslie M. Kantor, PhD, MPH
- 2018: M. Monica Sweeney, MD, MPH, FACP
- 2017: Sandro Galea, MD, MPH, DrPH '03
- 2016: John A. MacPhee, MBA, MPH '12
- 2015: Paul W. Brandt-Rauf, DrPH '87, MD '79, ScD '74
- 2014: Sten H. Vermund, MD, MPhil '87, PhD '90
- 2013: Ilise Zimmerman, MS '79, MPH '79
- 2012: David Michaels, MPH '81, PhD '87
- 2011: Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, MD '89
- 2010: James T. Harden, MBA '78, MPH '83
- 2009: Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH '85
- 2008: Michael H. Barnett, JD, MS '70
- 2007: Nancy R. Barhydt, RN, DrPH '79
To submit a nomination for the Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award, or for questions, please email us.