Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and former US Secretary of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, on Wednesday received an honorary doctorate from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for her work as an author and global health advocate. The honorary doctorate was awarded by Professor Daniel Chamovitz during BGU’s 53rd annual Board of Governors meeting.
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Chamovitz said that “Dr. Chelsea Clinton is a world-renowned author and global health advocate. In admiration of her unceasing efforts to promote global public health, her outstanding leadership as vice-chair of the Clinton Foundation, her efforts to empower female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses around the world and the way she has served as a role model for her generation and those that follow to improve our world, we are proud to bestow upon her our highest academic honor.”
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Chelsea Clinton, 4th from left, one of 6 to receive an honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University
(Photo: Dani Machlis, BGU)
In a statement, Clinton said, “I am proud to be receiving this honorary degree from an institution that understands the importance of forging a connection between the questions we ask, the research we conduct, what we teach our students and that we hopefully empower our students to go out and do in the world.”
She continued: “When David Ben-Gurion founded this university, I do not know that he could have foreseen all the work that BGU would support, catalyze and inspire. It is indeed fitting that BGU calls itself an agent of change because the status quo everywhere doesn’t work as well as it should for everyone.”
In addition to her health advocacy, Clinton serves on the board of the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, and previously was a special correspondent for NBC News from 2011 to 2014. In 2010, Clinton married Marc Mezvinsky, a Jewish investment banker. The couple have three children together and live in New York City.
Clinton was one of six individuals to be awarded an honorary doctorate from BGU today. The others were former Israeli Supreme Court justice Prof. Elyakim Rubinstein, philanthropists Patrick Drahi and Esther Halperin, water engineer Prof. Menachem Elimelech, and plant biologist Dr. Segenet Kelemu.