Alumna Named as Knight-Hennessy Scholar
The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences community congratulates Leila Dawson, ECON/IR ’20, who was named among the 2025 cohort of Stanford University’s prestigious Knight-Hennessy Scholars. Dawson joins 83 other scholars from 25 countries for the honor; recipients were selected based on their demonstration of independence of thought, purposeful leadership, and a civic mindset.
Knight-Hennessy Scholars is a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate fellowship program across all seven schools at Stanford University. Awardees receive up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford while engaging in experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders who address complex challenges facing the world.
A native of Prince George’s County, Maryland, Dawson is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a master's in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Dawson aims to leverage cross-sector collaboration and human-centered design to improve the U.S. healthcare system. She began her career working across Capitol Hill before transitioning to Deloitte Consulting’s life sciences and healthcare practice. At Deloitte, she advised leading biopharmaceutical companies, government health agencies, and global public health nonprofits.
Dawson co-founded Deloitte’s service offering that integrates life sciences research and development, health access, and human-centered design to enhance healthcare delivery and elevate the patient experience.
“I’ve worked across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, which has shown me the importance of cross-sector collaboration and the unique strengths each space brings to solving complex healthcare challenges. Knight-Hennessy reflects that exact spirit,” Dawson said. “This award is not only a tremendous honor, but also an opportunity to advance new models for how we think about and deliver smarter, more responsive systems that shape what is arguably our most valuable resource: health.”
During her time at Maryland, Dawson was engaged in numerous extracurricular activities, and was a member of Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed community service fraternity. She co-founded the UMD chapter of IGNITE, a national organization that empowers young women to pursue political leadership. Dawson was also selected for the Global Fellows program, and completed the U.S. Diplomacy and Policy Making Concentration.
While at UMD, Dawson was involved in politics, working in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. She served on two national political campaign committees, and in the Maryland General Assembly, gaining firsthand experience in legislative strategy and public service at both the state and federal levels.
Dawson received the Mary Elizabeth Roby Scholarship, awarded to top female students in Government and Politics with strong academics and a demonstrated interest in public leadership.
Dawson also led targeted recruiting efforts to expand access for students in BSOS, working with UMD faculty, staff, and student leaders to strengthen the pipeline from the college to Deloitte’s Commercial Strategy practice.
Today, in her community, Dawson provides local hospice care and supports her county health department. She plans to promote health care initiatives in her career and in her personal life going forward.
“Throughout my career, I’ve come to understand that health is not just a product of the healthcare system or clinical setting. It’s shaped by the institutions and forces around us: education, policy, housing, city planning, and more. I saw this most clearly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when my community, Prince George’s County, experienced some of the highest infection rates and death tolls in the greater Washington, D.C. area, due to a range of social and structural factors that influenced exposure, vulnerability, and access to care,” Dawson said. “That experience made clear how deeply health is determined by the world we build.
“The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program brings together leaders studying fields such as engineering, medicine, education, law, public health, policy, and business, disciplines that directly shape the social systems that impact our well-being. This is a rare opportunity to collaborate with and learn from changemakers tackling some of society’s most dynamic challenges. I’m excited to grow within this community at Stanford and expand my systems-level approach to innovative healthcare solutions.”
Photo courtesy of Knight-Hennessy Scholars
Published on Mon, Jun 2, 2025 - 1:59PM