Victor J. Dzau, M.D.  
President, National Academy Medicine (NAM)  
Vice Chair, National Research Council  
Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University  
Past CEO of the Duke University Health System

Victor Dzau is President of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), vice chair of the National Research Council, chancellor emeritus of Duke University, and past CEO of Duke Health System. Previously, he was chairman of medicine at Harvard and Stanford Universities. He is one of the most influential leaders in health and is recognized globally for a highly decorated career as a physician scientist, administrator, and leader. His research laid the foundation for lifesaving drugs known as ACE inhibitors. Dzau served on the Advisory Committee to the Director for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and chaired the NIH Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee. He chairs the Steering Committee of the NIH Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium.  

Dzau brings a global perspective of equity and innovation to the NAM. He believes health and science leaders should be engaged in developing solutions to broad-reaching social challenges that affect us all. He has made women’s health a priority at the NAM. In 2022, in response to the US Supreme Court Dobbs decision, Dzau convened an NAM committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society, which later transitioned to Standing Committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. In 2024, he launched the first ever NAM fellowship on global women’s health research and clinical leadership. He serves on the board of the World Economic Forum’s Global Alliance for Women’s Health. 

Carolyn M. Mazure, Ph.D.  
Chair, The White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research
Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women’s Health Research
Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
Director, Women's Health Research at Yale
Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure joined the Office of the First Lady to serve as the Chair of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research in November 2023.

Dr. Mazure comes to the White House from the Yale School of Medicine, where she is the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women’s Health Research, and Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology.  

After three years at the National Institutes of Health and fellowship training at Yale, Dr. Mazure joined the Yale faculty — becoming an active clinician and NIH-funded researcher. She has served in a variety of leadership roles at Yale Medical School, including the Director of Psychiatry’s Adult Inpatient Program at Yale-New Haven Hospital, the Associate Dean for Faculty at Yale School of Medicine, Scientific Director of multiple NIH-funded interdisciplinary grants such as Specialized Centers of Research Excellence, and Principal Investigator of NIH-funded junior faculty training grants.

She created Women’s Health Research at Yale, the university’s interdisciplinary research center on the health of women and the interplay of sex, gender, and health. The center studies a wide breadth of topics from cardiovascular disease to cancers. Since its inception in 1998, the center has been recognized as a national model for launching research, translating findings, sharing health information with the public and policymakers, and providing mentored training in interdisciplinary team science.

Her internationally recognized research contributions have focused on depression, one of the greatest causes of disability for women in the U.S. and globally, and the sex-and-gender-specific relationship of stress to depression as well as co-occurring addictive behaviors (such as smoking, and opioid use and misuse). Current research targets the intersection of biological and social factors affecting the health of women, gender-specific strategies for promoting resilience, and health policies that serve to advance economic stability for women.

Dr. Mazure has served on the Advisory Committee for the NIH Office for Research on Women’s Health, provided testimony to the U.S. Congress (House and Senate) on the health of women, served on the planning committee for the First White House Conference on Mental Health, and was a fellow for the U.S. Congress’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

She has been an invited speaker at diverse venues, such as NASA, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Academy of Medicine, and the Sorbonne, and has been a featured expert on ABC’s “Prime Time Live” and in the BBC documentary “The Science of Stress.” Her edited books include “Does Stress Cause Psychiatric Illness?” and “Understanding Depression in Women: Applying Empirical Research to Practice and Policy.”

Her national honors include the Marion Spencer Fay Award from the Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership, the American Psychological Association Distinguished Leadership Award from the Committee on Women in Psychology, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award from the National Organization for Women, and a U.S. Public Health Fellowship. Honors from Yale include the Stephen Fleck Clinician and Teacher Award, the Sidney J. Blatt Award for Excellence in Clinical Care, Teaching, and Research, and the Elga R. Wasserman Courage, Clarity, and Leadership Award.

Each center in the SCORE program serves as a national resource for translational research, at multiple levels of analysis, to identify the role of biological sex differences in the health of women. These NIH-supported Centers of Excellence are vital hubs for research on sex and gender that also provide pilot funding, training, and education. SCORE investigators provide leadership in the development and promotion of standards and policies for the consideration of sex as a biological variable (SABV) and sex differences in biomedical research. They identify the contributions of biological sex to health outcomes and apply this knowledge to the development of the next generation of interventions and medical treatments, leading to improvements in women's health. Visit the ORWH website for more information about the  SCORE program.