On Monday, May 19, at 10:30 a.m. - Noon, the Emerging Voices: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging plenary will feature a keynote address from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who will draw from her unparalleled record of leadership to discuss bringing women’s voices to healthcare policy and practice. Later, she’ll sit in conversation with APA President Ramaswamy Viswanathan, M.D., Dr. Med.Sc., and APA CEO & Medical Director Marketa M. Wills, M.D., M.B.A.

About President Sirleaf

Known as “Africa’s Iron Lady,” Nobel Peace Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won international acclaim for leading Liberia through the Ebola Crisis and through reconciliation and recovery following her nation’s decade-long civil war. As Africa’s first democratically elected female head of state and Liberia’s first female president, she is credited with achieving dramatic economic, social, and political change, culminating in Liberia’s first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in 73 years.

President Sirleaf was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2011 for her achievements as a global leader for women’s empowerment. She is also the recipient of The Presidential Medal of Freedom—the United States’ highest civilian award—for her personal courage and unwavering commitment to expanding freedom and improving the lives of Africans. On stepping down from the presidency in a peaceful and democratic transfer of power in 2018, she became the first woman honored with the Mo Ibrahim Prize, considered the most prestigious award for African leaders.

President Sirleaf has been ranked among the top 100 most powerful women in the world (Forbes, 2012), the most powerful woman in Africa (Forbes Africa, 2011), one of six “Women of the Year” (Glamour, 2010), among the 10 best leaders in the world (Newsweek, 2010) and top 10 female leaders (TIME, 2010). In 2010, The Economist called her “the best President the country has ever had.” She remains a leading promoter of freedom, peace, justice, women’s rights, and democratic rule within the international community.

Born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, President Sirleaf is the granddaughter of a traditional chief of renown in western Liberia and a market woman from the southeast. U.S. educated; she holds a Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She also earned a degree in accounting at Madison Business College in Wisconsin and received a diploma from the University of Colorado’s Economics Institute.