Veronika Denner

Represented Austria at the 2024 Summer School for Female Leadership in the Digital Age  

My name is Veronika Denner and I hail from Vienna, Austria. Ever since my adolescent years, I have been passionate about language learning and using my skills to solve problems in diverse communities. In 2019, I was accepted to Yale on a first-generation low-income scholarship. In March 2022, I was diagnosed with endometriosis after many years of “inexplicable” pain and other debilitating symptoms. Ever since my diagnosis, I have led numerous endometriosis-related projects at Yale, biotech startups and German politics. I graduated from Yale  in December 2023 with a Bachelor’s in Ethics, Politics & Economics. I will start my MSc in Global Health Science & Epidemiology at Oxford this fall and am aspiring to become a leader in women’s and public health.

This summer I was honored to participate in the European Leadership Academy in Warsaw. The week was a dream come true in many ways. Having spent 4 years in the US, I had barely formed a European network. I had therefore long been eager to connect with other passionate young women and learn from experienced European professionals. Throughout the week, I felt truly inspired by the participants’ diverse academic backgrounds and personal stories.

If I had to describe what the European Leadership Academy meant to me in a few words it would be personal connection and intellectual inspiration. As someone who did her Bachelor’s in the social sciences and only recently ventured into STEM, seeing so many young women excelling in science and technology was simultaneously inspiring and motivating. I am looking forward to seeing the different paths that all of us will embark on and am truly grateful for all the friends and connections that I made.