UCSF Chancellor Receives Honorary Degree from Princeton

Group shot of honorees at Princeton University commencement.

Honorary degree recipients pictured with President Shirley M. Tilghman, fourth from left, were, from left, Judith Jamison, Susan Desmond-Hellmann, Robert Rawson Jr., Geoffrey Canada, Charles Gillispie and Henry "Hank" Aaron.

UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, was among six distinguished individuals to receive an honorary degree from Princeton University during commencement exercises on May 31.

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of Princeton's Commencement Ceremony

Those awarded honorary degrees include individuals who are recognized for their contributions to athletics, human rights, clinical research, education, the humanities, the arts and the law.

Princeton President Shirley M. Tilghman awarded the other degrees to Henry "Hank" Aaron, baseball Hall-of-Famer; Geoffrey Canada, champion for children in Harlem; Charles Gillispie, Princeton's Dayton Stockton Professor of History Emeritus; Judith Jamison, dancer and choreographer and artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; and Princeton alumnus Robert Rawson Jr., legal expert and long-serving member of the University's Board of Trustees.

UCSF Chanccellor gets honorary degree from Princeton.

UCSF Chanccellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann, right, gets an honorary degree from Princeton University.

Desmond-Hellmann was lauded for "her lifelong dedication to medicine," which "led to a stellar career as an oncologist, clinical scientist and one of the world's most accomplished businesswomen. Now chancellor of the University of California-San Francisco, she is applying to the public sector the experience and wisdom she gained as a physician-scientist in the United States and Africa; as a world leader in the development of groundbreaking drugs effective against common human cancers; and as a senior executive of the world’s most successful biotechnology company. Her career exemplifies the breakthroughs that can occur when scientists and physicians work together to create new knowledge and then translate it into effective medicines."

Read the news release on the Princeton University website. Watch a video of Princeton's commencement ceremony. The honorary degrees are awarded at about 62 minutes into the video.

Photos by Princeton University, Office of Communication, Denise Applewhite, 2011