WesternU Board of Trustee recognized for lifetime of volunteer service to the Lebanon Community
Western University of Health Sciences Board of Trustees member Heather McDaniel was recognized by the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce as their 2025 Senior First Citizen on Feb. 28, 2025. This Distinguished Service Award honors one Lebanon community member for their lifetime of volunteer service.
Trustee McDaniel has been deeply involved in the Lebanon community for years, contributing to various organizations, including the Lebanon Optimist Club, the Lebanon Booster Club, the Future Farmers of America (FFA), the Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Santiam, the Lebanon Schools Foundation, the WesternU Oregon Advisory Board, and the WesternU Board of Trustees.
Trustee McDaniel’s involvement with WesternU Oregon began before the University welcomed students in 2011. Joining the Oregon Advisory Board in 2016 and the WesternU Board of Trustees in 2022, she has played an essential role in shaping the University’s initiatives and enhancing its contributions to the community.
“Heather McDaniel’s unwavering dedication to WesternU Oregon and the Lebanon community has left an indelible mark on both. Through her tireless advocacy, leadership, and deep commitment to our students, she has helped shape a thriving academic and community environment,” said WesternU Provost Paula Crone, DO ’92. “Heather embodies the very best of servant leadership, always putting others first and working to create opportunities for those around her. This well-deserved recognition as the 2025 Senior First Citizen is a testament to her impact, and we are incredibly proud to celebrate her achievements.”
In addition to her countless volunteer hours, Trustee McDaniel’s philanthropic contributions have provided hundreds of students with the resources needed to become compassionate, patient-centered providers. Her vision and generosity were instrumental in establishing the McDaniel Lab of Medical Anatomical Research, the Margaret Heather McDaniel College of Health Sciences-Northwest (CHS-Northwest) Student Scholarships, and the Margaret Heather McDaniel CHS-Northwest Faculty Research Grant. Furthermore, her direction and community engagement have been crucial in sustaining the Tools of the Trade Program, a program where Lebanon community members connect with incoming College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-Northwest) students by gifting them a black medical bag.
“Heather McDaniel is an extraordinary individual who, with quiet resolve, has demonstrated a remarkable and unparalleled support for WesternU, COMP-Northwest, and it’s cherished students since its inception, well over a decade ago,” said WesternU President Robin Farias-Eisner, MD, PhD, MBA, FACOG. “Heather’s tireless dedication to the COMP-Northwest students has taken a multitude of innovative forms, the most compelling of which includes the powerfully symbolic black doctors bag that she has gifted to each graduate every year since the conferring of COMP-Northwest’s first class, the offering of her home for students and faculty alike, the presence she provides by attending every special student event, the commitment to the WesternU Oregon Advisory group, and service she provides to the WesternU Board of Trustees. Heather McDaniel embodies humanism, the core value for which WesternU is so proud. No one is more deserving than Heather to be a recipient of the Senior First Citizen award.”
