Donna Edna Shalala (/ʃəˈleɪlə/ shə-LAY-lə; born February 14, 1941) is an American politician and academic who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as well as in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021.

Shalala is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she was awarded in 2008, and, on August 16, 2023, assumed the role of Interim President of The New School,[2] a university in New York City.

[3] Her father sold real estate;[4] and her mother, one of the first Lebanese-Americans to graduate from Ohio State University,[5] was a teacher who worked two jobs and attended law school at night.

[8] Shalala began her teaching career as a political science professor at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York, where she also was a member of the American Federation of Teachers union.

The faculty speech code was abolished ten years later, after a number of professors were investigated for alleged or suspected violations.

[20] Following a year serving as chair of the Children's Defense Fund (1992–1993), Shalala was nominated in 1992 by then President-elect Bill Clinton for the position of United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.

[30] In 2013, the University of Miami sold 88 acres of undeveloped Pine Rocklands, one of the last remnants of the imperiled habitat in Miami-Dade County outside of Everglades National Park, to Ram Realty Services, for $22 million.

[28] When Shalala ran for the US Congress in 2018, her candidacy was opposed by local environmentalists for her part in the sale of the University of Miami pine rocklands site.

[28] Shalala faced criticism for her response to a nationally publicized custodial workers' strike at the University of Miami, which lasted from February 28, 2006, until May 1, 2006.

Critics called the University of Miami's custodial workers among the lowest paid university-based custodians in the nation and alleged they were not earning a living wage.

"[40] Shalala left the Clinton Foundation in April 2017 and returned to her full-time teaching position at the University of Miami, replacing her former HHS deputy Kevin Thurm.

[33] Following a September 2015 Clinton Global Initiative event held at the Sheraton New York Hotel, Shalala fell ill.

[45] The district voted for Clinton by a comfortable margin in the 2016 presidential election, but its House seat was held by 30-year incumbent Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,[42] who had announced that she would retire at the conclusion of her term.

[47] Shalala ran against Republican candidate María Elvira Salazar, an anchorwoman for Miami Telemundo outlet WSCV, in the general election.

Shalala's campaign emphasized her experience and sought to tie Salazar to President Donald Trump, who was unpopular in the district.

[54] On April 17, 2020, Shalala was appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve on the COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission to oversee the implementation of the CARES Act.

[65] The New School, like other universities, continue to be protested for connections to the Israeli occupation, including its 14-year association with the Center for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory of Music.

[69] In January 2012, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on a potential conflict of interest involving Shalala's service on the boards of property development companies.

[70] In 1985, Shalala became a founding member of EMILY's List, a political action committee that seeks to elect pro-choice Democratic women to office.

[71] Shalala served from 2001 to 2007 on the board of the Albert Shanker Institute, a small, three-member staff organization named for the former head of the American Federation of Teachers.

[citation needed] She is an honorary board member of the American Iranian Council, an organization that seeks to improve Iran–United States relations.

[73][better source needed] She serves as a distinguished senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program and the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution.

[75][better source needed] Shalala also served as a panelist on the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, a working group of former high-ranking government officials and academic experts that put together a set of recommendations regarding the United States' defense capabilities against biological threats.