Updated: February 24, 2025, at 2:03 p.m.

Susan F. Wood, a professor emerita of health policy and management and the former director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, died of brain cancer on Jan. 17. She was 66.

Wood taught and researched at GW for 16 years in the Milken Institute School of Public Health after her resignation from the federal government in protest against the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to prevent access to Plan B, a form of emergency contraception in 2005. Her colleagues remember her as a courageous advocate for women’s health and reproductive rights and a caring mentor for her students and colleagues.

Wood was the assistant commissioner for women’s health at the FDA during former President George W. Bush’s administration, when an FDA advisory panel voted unanimously in 2003 that Plan B was safe and effective for use.

In August 2005, then-FDA Commissioner Lester M. Crawford announced the agency would put off a decision to approve the pill since they were not sure how to restrict its sale to women under the age of 17 despite its safety, according to the Washington Post.

Wood resigned from her post at the FDA in protest of Crawford’s decision after five years at the agency, garnering national attention.

“I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled,” Wood wrote in an email to her colleagues, per the Washington Post.

In 2006, the FDA approved the pill to anyone over the age of 18 before former President Obama’s HHS secretary overruled the FDA’s decision to allow women under 17 to acquire Plan B in 2011. Plan B One-Step, a refined version of the Plan B pill, was approved by the agency without age restrictions in 2013.

When the pill was approved, Wood told the Washington Post that it was both a victory for women’s health initiatives and an opportunity for the FDA to move forward past having politics influence decision-making.

“It’s a real win for women to have all access to emergency contraception,” she said to the Washington Post.

Wood graduated from Rhodes College in 1980 where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology. She graduated with her doctorate in biology from Boston University in 1989, according to her LinkedIn.

Before her time at the FDA, Wood worked at the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as a science advisor and deputy director for the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues.

Diana Zuckerman, the president of the National Center for Health Research, said she worked with Wood on Capitol Hill in the early 1990s as part of a small group of women tackling women’s health issues at the federal level, she said the continued to work with Wood until her retirement. She said Wood was a board member at the National Center for Health Research, where the institution honored her with an internship in her name last year.

“​​It makes me very sad that the internship is now in her memory, but I’m proud that we are training future professionals in her name to continue her legacy,” Zuckerman said in an email.

Wood joined Milken’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in 2006 as an associate research professor. In 2008, she was appointed as the director of the Jacobs Institute, which studies aspects of women’s health care and public health issues and publishes Women’s Health Issues journal, and became an associate professor of health policy and management.

Jacobs Institute Director Julia Strasser, an assistant research professor, said Wood “firmly cemented” her legacy when she resigned from the FDA but left a larger impact on the people she mentored and inspired to enter public service or reproductive health.

“Since her passing, I have heard from so many colleagues across reproductive health research and advocacy about how important she was to their work and their career development,” Strasser said in an email.

When Wood retired in 2022 and stepped down as director of the institute, Strasser tried to build on the “strong foundation” that Wood had established, she said. She said one of her fondest memories of Wood is how she enjoyed a mug of tea with milk and often had a few extra mugs sitting on her desk.

“When she moved to Scotland and cleaned out her GW office, she passed along some of those mugs to me, which felt like a great honor and I’m happy to have a little piece of her to hold onto now,” Strasser said in an email.

Liz Borkowski, a senior research scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management, said Wood was an “amazing” person, and she first met her in 2006 when she came to GW after her resignation from the FDA. She said she was excited to work with Wood because she had been an admirer of her work.

“She just always treated everyone like she was glad to see them and interested in their contributions and just always made everybody feel comfortable and welcome,” Borkowski said.

Borkowski said she worked on the Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy Project, which studied how scientists interact with legal and regulatory systems, including a project for the DC Department of Health to research conflicts of interest between doctors receiving gifts and payments from insurance companies. She said when the Jacobs Institute became part of GW, Wood became its director and asked her to join the institute with her.

She said she has learned how to get things done in government agencies, like HHS, and how to work in collaboration with people that have different expertise from Wood. She said Wood was always determined to do something when it came to injustices in women’s health.

“When some of us were upset with the way things were going and starting to feel sort of despondent, she would always help us see that we need to keep fighting and we can accomplish something,” Borkowski said.

Health Policy and Management Department Chair Anne Markus said Wood was a “feisty” advocate for women’s health and reproductive rights who will be “sorely” missed.

“During her time at GW, she was instrumental in growing the academic offerings for students interested in women’s health policy and a sought-after mentor by masters and doctoral students alike,” Markus said in an email.

David Michaels, a professor of environmental and occupational health, said Wood was a “courageous” advocate and a “treasured” friend. He said he hired Wood in 2005 to work on the SKPP project at GW after her resignation from the FDA, with her first work on the project focused on improving the FDA’s regulatory program.

“Her steadfast voice and thoughtful counsel will be missed by many, especially now,” Michaels said in an email.

Amita Vyas, a professor of prevention and community health, said Wood was a “brilliant, witty and supportive” colleague and professor. She said Wood’s dedication to women’s health made a lasting impact and motivated others in the health industry to advocate for equality and justice in health care.

“Her legacy continues through her students, who carry on her work with passion and dedication,” Vyas said in an email. “I am deeply grateful to have been guided by such a remarkable mentor.”

Patricia Pittman, a professor of health policy and management, said Wood was an “extraordinary” scholar who was willing to make sacrifices to make advancements in women’s health due to her resignation from the FDA.

“I often used Susan’s story as an example when I taught ethics in my Advanced Health Policy class,” Pittman said in an email. “She was a giant.”

This story was updated to clarify the following: 

This article was updated to clarify that Zuckerman worked with Wood from the 1990’s through her retirement. This article was also updated to clarify that the National Center for Health Research honored Wood with an internship in her name, which upon her passing is in her memory.