Laura Stachel

Founder and Executive Director, We Care Solar

2012 Developing World Award Winner

Dr. Laura Stachel is the Executive Director of We Care Solar, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making solar power simple and accessible for safe motherhood programs in last-mile health centers. We Care Solar designs and distributes compact solar electric kits—Solar Suitcases—to provide reliable lighting, phone charging, and essential electricity to maternal health facilities. Its programs improve the capacity of health workers to provide life-saving obstetric care. Stachel is a retired obstetrician–gynecologist and was Staff Researcher at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. She has been a co-investigator on several studies on Solar Suitcase maternal health programs in Nigeria and Uganda.

Stachel has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work in addressing energy access for developing-world health centers. She was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes “50 Over 50” list, received a 2024 AARP Purpose Prize, and was one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013. She received the 2019 Zayed Sustainability Prize, the 2017 United Nations (UN) Momentum for Change Award, the 2017 Drucker Innovation Prize, the 2017 Bloomberg New Energy Pioneers Award, the 2015 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs “Powering the Future We Want” Award, the 2015 UBS Optimus Award, the 2014 Katerva Gender Equality Award, and the 2012 UN Association Global Citizens Award. The list also includes National Energy Globe Awards from Sierra Leone (2022), Ethiopia (2016), and Eritrea (2015).

Stachel received a DrPH and MPH in Maternal and Child Health from the University of California, Berkeley, an MD from the University of California, San Francisco, and a BA with highest honors in Psychology from Oberlin College.