A political scientist and academic since 1967, Dr. Wolfson became a representative of a non-governmental organization at the United Nations in 1991. As a result of her research in the formation of social policy, more than two decades of work on women’s health policy, and her experience at the United Nations, she noted the consistent under attention and inadequate information available about all stages of women’s health throughout the world. She founded the Global Alliance for Women’s Health (GAWH), a non-governmental organization, in 1994 in order to help address these shortcomings through women’s health advocacy, education and promotion internationally.

Her research on the formation of social policy in the United States during the 1960’s convinced her of the importance of the private sector in development of sustainable economic opportunity. It also became apparent to her that many of the advances in women’s health garnered in the twentieth century in the US often originated from private initiatives-from individuals as well as corporations, from foundations and academia and from the profit as well as the not-for-profit sectors. In those instances, the role of government in developing public policy for women’s health was reactive.

In the early 1980’s after finishing a special program for Ph.D.s in the arts and sciences at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Wolfson began teaching courses on business and society in an MBA program at Baruch College, a branch of the City University of New York. Her lectures and her research on women’s health reinforced her understanding of public-private partnerships. With her founding of the GAWH, these ideas coalesced. Public-private partnerships became a cornerstone of GAWH’s mission and its method for advancing women’s health internationally.

Dr. Wolfson was educated at Smith College (BA) and New York University (MA and Ph.D.) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (certificate). She has taught at New York University, the State University of New York, Long Island University, Rutgers University and City University of New York, and held an adjunct appointment at the Columbia University School of Public Health. She has lectured on women’s health at international seminars in Spain, Italy and Korea, and has consulted on women’s health with UNDP and WHO. Her publications on women’s health include articles, monographs and edited compilations.