Since Yeakel came to Drexel in 2002, the IWHL has grown in size and stature, earning a significant institutional commitment in the College of Medicine's 2007-2012 Strategic Plan as one of its top priorities.

Yeakel co-chaired a fundraising campaign to raise an additional $1.8 million for a permanent home for the Legacy Center (Archives and Special Collections) in the new building.

In June 2013, at the invitation of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Yeakel led a Vision 2020 delegation to an international conference on Women and Warfare and moderated the closing debate in Scottish Parliament.

[2] Yeakel ran her final campaign in 2000, when she challenged incumbent Republican State Senator Dick Tilghman for his 17th District seat.

[3] Appointed by President Bill Clinton as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Yeakel served in that role from 1994-2000.

Her leadership initiatives there included the Freedom from Fear campaign to end family violence and "Envisioning a Healthier Philadelphia," a coalition of more than 60 public and private organizations dedicated to improving access to health care.

In 2010, she was appointed to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Health Care Reform Implementation Advisory Committee, developing recommendations for the Governor on the new federal legislation.

She was a past president or chair of many local and national non-profit organizations, including among others AccessMatters, the Junior League of Philadelphia, the 21st Century League, the Citizens' Coalition for Energy Efficiency, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and the board of overseers of the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

She was a member of the Advisory Board of the Penn/ICOWHI 18th Congress, entitled Cities and Women's Health: Global Perspectives held in Philadelphia in the spring of 2010.