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.