Former Simmons President Helen Drinan awarded CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital, Sandra Fenwick, with the inaugural Helen G. Drinan Visionary Leadership Award at the 42 annual Simmons Leadership Conference. 

The Helen G. Drinan Visionary Leadership Award was created, “to celebrate a woman leader who embodies our vision of manifesting equity in leadership in our lifetime,” according to the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership website. 

The award was established in 2020 after Drinan stepped down as president of Simmons. Drinan was president of Simmons for 12 years. This is the first year the award has been presented.

“I was often the only woman in the room, in medical staff meetings, in board meetings,” said Fenwick while virtually accepting the award. Fenwick, a Simmons alumna, has been the CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital since 2013. She is the first female CEO of Boston Children’s. 

While announcing the award winner, Drinan spoke of her personal relationship with Fenwick. Fenwick called Drinan a “role model” and “friend.”

Fenwick dedicated the award to the generations of women in her family. 

Under Fenwick’s leadership, Boston Children’s was named the #1 children’s hospital in the United States for seven years in a row by the U.S. News & World Report, according to the Boston Children’s website.