When Leslye Arsht arrived in Iraq in July 2003, most classrooms throughout the war-torn country were littered with rubble and shattered glass. Few schools had electricity or working toilets. Textbooks were filled with propaganda, including numerous pictures of Saddam Hussein. "It was a mess," says Arsht. And it was her job to help clean it up. An expert on education reform, Arsht had been handpicked by the U.S. Department of Defense to help Iraqis rebuild their school system. It was a formidable challenge, but, says Arsht, "I felt like I had prepared my whole life to do something like this."
   She faced considerable risk to complete her assignment: One afternoon, a bomb exploded in a hotel restaurant just five minutes after she'd left. Arsht became part of a team that canvased local teachers to see what, if anything, could be salvaged from the existing school system. Then she
helped develop a training program for 32,000 secondary school teachers and 3,000 supervisors and managed the repairs of nearly 2,500 dilapidated school buildings. After 40 weeks of hard work by Arsht and her colleagues, the Iraqi Ministry of Education took control of the schools, three months ahead of schedule.
   Every step was arduous. Simple tasks like setting up a meeting took days because there was no reliable phone or mail service. To stay safe, Arsht took indirect routes from her quarters in Baghdad to schools in outlying areas. Sometimes she traveled by Black Hawk helicopter.
Her work has attracted praise from top officials, including former President George H. W. Bush, who knew Arsht from her days in the Department of Education during his administration. Her willingness to put herself in harm's way "in order to touch the lives of others is one example of her lifelong commitment to making ours a better world," Mr. Bush says.
   Back home in Arlington, Virginia, Arsht is working with a support center for severely injured service members and their families. She is bringing to this task the same conviction that she demonstrated in Baghdad. "We need to really care about both our soldiers and the children in Iraq," she says, "because they both need to reestablish their lives."

   Can you imagine a woman being fired for taking time off after having a baby? Or women's health getting the cold shoulder in federally funded research? Sadly, that's the way it was not so long ago. But now much has changed, thanks to a handful of pioneering congresswomen. In 1977, they put aside partisan differences to form the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues (CCWI). Since then, the group has pushed through dozens of landmark bills, with amazing results.
Because of CCWI, maternity leave is now mandatory at large companies, federal dollars earmarked for breast cancer research have increased more than tenfold, and studies on female reproductive health and prenatal care have led to real breakthroughs. What's more, because of the group's efforts, mammographies must now meet strict federal standards. The caucus fought successfully – and continues to fight – to include women in government-sponsored research on heart disease, an illness once associated primarily with men, and on diabetes.
    The group has always had a Democratic and a Republican cochair, and members have never hesitated to cross the aisle to drum up support. Plus, the caucus steers clear of issues like abortion. "We chose to focus on what united us, not divided us," says former Congresswoman Liz Holtzman, the first Democratic co-chair.
   On the current agenda: securing funding for research on diseases, like Alzheimer's and osteoporosis, that affect older women. "Women are living longer," says Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, the current Republican co-chair, "so we need to stay on top of these issues." Adds Rep. Hilda L. Solis, the Democratic co-chair, "The more we work on research, prevention, and education, the more lives we can save."

Helping neglected vets
Frances M. Murphy, M.D., M.P.H.
Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Health Policy Coordination, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs
Dr. Murphy focuses on the much overlooked area of mental-health care for veterans. She identified shortcomings in the system and has come up with innovative ways to improve and expand treatment.