2026 40 Under 40 Honoree: Aaron Siegel (38)
“Advocacy for women’s health should not be an exception among men; it should be the standard.”
PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA
Aaron Siegel
Operations Manager, Science And Research Development, Magee-Womens Research Institute
Aaron Siegel was age 3 when he started playing hockey. More than three decades later, he still spends a good part of his life at the rink, only now he is the coach — including for his own son. His other arena is women’s health. Siegel has spent 15 years at Magee-Womens Research Institute, first at the bench researching HIV and HPV and now in operations.
When COVID-19 shut down most research, he was handed a problem with no manual: how to get scientists safely back into the labs. He helped build the plan that reopened research across the institute. Friends have dubbed him a “manbassador” for women’s health. Siegel likes the sentiment, but not what its novelty says.
“Advocacy for women’s health should not be an exception among men,” he says.
Hockey and research are not such strange companions to him. Both taught him to notice the people whose work can disappear into the background. A team, Siegel says, only works when everyone understands that their position matters.
