The board of trustees of Spelman College, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, has named Helene D. Gayle as its eleventh president. She will take office in July.
Dr. Gayle is currently president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation’s oldest and largest community foundations. She has held this post since 2017.
Earlier, Dr. Gayle was president and CEO of CARE, a leading international humanitarian organization. A public health physician with expertise in economic development, humanitarian and health issues, she spent 20 years with the Centers for Disease Control, working primarily on HIV/AIDS.
Although Dr. Gayle has not had a full-time position in academia, she has engaged in academic and scholarly work through adjunct and clinical professorships, membership on think tank boards, and serving on studies and commissions for the National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Gayle was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Barnard College in New York City and a medical doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a master of public health degree Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.