748 million people lack access to improved drinking-water and it is estimated that 1.8 billion people use a
source of drinking-water that is fecally contaminated.
Shannon Márquez
Dr. Márquez is the Associate Vice Provost for Global Health and International Development at
Drexel University. She serves as the Director of Drexel’s Global Health Program, and Principal
Investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Opening Doors for Health
Disparities Research Training Program at the Drexel University School of Public Health.
Dr. Márquez’s research and scholarly work focuses on water, sanitation, and hygiene promotion
(WASH); the environmental burden of disease in developing countries; and capacity-building
and health systems strengthening. As Associate Vice Provost, she also oversees the Dornsife
Global Development Scholars Program, which leverages an exciting capacity-building
partnership between Drexel and World Vision to provide international field training in WASH, global health, and
international development and funding. The program offers faculty/student research, six-month student co-op
experiences, and summer experiences in 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Márquez holds a Ph.D. in environmental sciences and engineering from The UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of
Global Public Health, a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, and a B.S. in
Mechanical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University. At Drexel, she teaches courses in WASH, global health
ethics, health aspects of WASH, and public health in developing countries to online students located around the
world. She also oversees a number of global health research and training activities in Europe, Asia, Latin America,
and Africa on behalf of Drexel.
