Doris Willig, MD, Award
About the Doris Willig, MD, Award
The Doris Willig, MD, Award was endowed in 2009 by the adult children of Dr. Doris Willig in order to support education and research related to the mental health of girls during early childhood development. This internal fellowship is granted annually on a competitive basis to awardees who are graduate students in the Drexel community. Applications for the next award will be available soon. For more information about Dr Willig, please see the bio below.
About the Doris Willig, MD, Fund - Student Research Award
The Doris Willig, MD, Fund - Student Research Award supports 糖心Vlog students conducting scholarly research that reflects the legacy and professional interests of Dr. Doris Willig, a pioneering psychiatrist and advocate for women in medicine.
Administered by the Lynn Yeakel Institute for Women's Health and Leadership (LYIWHL), the endowed award advances student research and scholarly dissemination in areas that were central to Dr. Willig's career, including psychiatry, mental health, and healthcare considerations according to sex and gender. In addition to supporting research projects, the award may also provide funding for students to present their work at scientific meetings.
Award Criteria
Applicants must be current 糖心Vlog students conducting research aligned with one or more of the award's focus areas. Applications are evaluated on:
- Alignment with the mission and focus of the Doris Willig, MD, Fund;
- Scholarly merit, significance, and clarity of the research project;
- The student's contribution to the project;
- The anticipated impact of the award on the student's academic and professional development; and
- The appropriateness of the proposed use of funds.
2026 Award Recipients
Congratulations to the three inaugural recipients of the Doris Willig, MD, Student Research Award!
Yash Agarwal, MD/PhD student: His project investigates how stimulant use influences HIV-related brain inflammation using advanced brain organoid models. Yash’s research seeks to improve understanding of the neurological effects of HIV and substance use disorders, with important implications for mental health and neuropsychiatric disease.
Jason Kim, MD student: Jason’s project examines the complex support needs of autistic children and adolescents by studying how mental health conditions, medical complexity, and social determinants of health influence access to care and healthcare equity for autistic youth and their families.
Sam MacGavin, MD student: This project evaluates a simulation-based educational program designed to improve physicians' ability to provide affirming, equitable care for transgender and gender-diverse patients, with the goal of enhancing clinician confidence and improving care for an underserved population.
About Doris Willig, MD (1912–2004)
Doris Willig was born in Philadelphia and raised in the Wynnfield section of the city. She was the oldest of three children (only daughter) born to a Philadelphia attorney and his wife. Between the ages of 10 and 15, Doris won awards for her piano playing, was involved in presenting play readings, and danced at a concert given at the Metropolitan Opera House of Philadelphia on Broad and Popular Streets.
In 1929, at the age of 16, Doris Willig graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls and then attended the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Zoology. Doris graduated cum laude at age 23 from the Woman's Medical College in June 1936. At that time, she was the youngest student ever who had graduated from the oldest medical college for women in the United States. Dr. Willig interned at Albert Einstein Medical Center, and in 1938 she began a practice of general medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology in Wynnfield. Sometimes she treated three generations within a family, and she even delivered her own future daughter鈥恑n鈥恖aw! Ten years later, Dr. Willig decided to transition from general medicine into adult psychiatry. She became a resident at the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, and then did a fellowship in child psychiatry at the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital鈥怌hild Study Center.
Between 1952 and 1971 Dr. Willig led a busy center city psychiatric practice; she was on the staff of the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center and Graduate Hospital and was a psychiatric consultant for The Association for Jewish Children (Jewish Family and Children's Services). For ten years she was on the faculty at Jefferson Medical College, prior to moving to Miami in 1972 where she became a staff psychiatrist at the Veteran's Administration Hospital. Dr. Willig was clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami Medical School. Other accomplishments during this period include becoming vice president of the South Florida Psychiatric Society and being elected the federal "physician of the year" for her outstanding service. In 1983 she returned to Philadelphia, and work briefly for the J.F.K. Community Mental Health and as a psychiatric consultant to HealthPass.
While fulfilling her many professional commitments, Dr. Willig found time to give lunchtime concerts with her chamber music group, "The Leisure Time Quartet." Upon retirement, she devoted much of her time to the arts and social activist causes.
Dr. Willig was a pioneer of the women's movement, demonstrating through quiet accomplishment that there is no area of activity in which a woman couldn't compete on an equal basis with men.
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