Global Brigades CEO, co-founder Dr. Shital Vora to serve as Marquette University's 2024 Commencement speaker

Children's Wisconsin CEO Peggy Troy to speak at Graduate School and Graduate School of Management ceremony

April 18, 2024

MILWAUKEE - Shital Vora, M.D., CEO and co-founder of Global Brigades, will serve as Marquette University's 2024 undergraduate Commencement speaker, and Peggy Troy, Children's Wisconsin CEO, will speak at the Graduate School and Graduate School of Management ceremony. Both are Marquette alumnae. As part of the university's Commencement ceremonies, Vora and Troy will be presented honorary doctor of humane letters degrees.

Marquette's Commencement ceremonies will take place on either Saturday, May 11, or Sunday, May 12, at Fiserv Forum, pending the Milwaukee Bucks' playoff schedule. The final date will be confirmed at a later time.

Vora established the very first Marquette Medical Brigade club as a student in 2003. This developed into the Global Brigades model that is used today throughout the international nonprofit organization. Vora, Global Brigades co-founder Steven Atamian and a leadership team that includes her husband, Pallav Vora, have started over 650 active groups who travel to Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Ghana, Guatemala, Belize and Greece to provide primary health care and education in rural communities.

Prior to dedicating herself to Global Brigades full time, Vora spent four years working as a Doctor of Physical Therapy focusing on orthopedics and sports medicine for one of the nation's largest and most successful orthopedic practices in Chicago.

Vora currently sits on the Marquette University Health Sciences advisory board. She was recognized as Marquette University's Young Alumna of the Year in 2009 and honored with the university's Spirit of Marquette Award in 2016.

Troy is the first female president and CEO of Children's Wisconsin, the only health system in Wisconsin that is 100% dedicated to kids. Under her leadership, the hospital is ranked among the best in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, employs more than 6,500 people throughout the state, and is served by 775 of Wisconsin's top pediatric physicians and advanced practice providers from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Troy, a Marquette trustee emerita who served on the university's Board of Trustees until 2023, is a strong community advocate and volunteers her time to organizations that improve overall health and quality of life. She is a member of the Greater Milwaukee Committee and serves on the boards of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, QuadMed, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center.

Troy has been honored with a wide variety of awards including the 2022 Alumna of the Year Award from Marquette, 2019 Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Hospital Association, 2018 CEO of the Year by BizTimes and the 2017 Imprint Award from Professional Dimensions.