Shiva Bidar-Sielaff honored with Rotary’s Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award

The Madison Downtown Rotary Club honored Shiva Bidar-Sielaff with its 2026 Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award on Nov. 11, recognizing her decades of leadership, community service and work building connections across cultural and social differences. The award, established in 1982, recognizes individuals whose volunteer efforts have made outstanding contributions to humanitarian service in the greater Madison community, following the example of Rabbi Manfred E. Swarsensky. Bidar-Sielaff, the vice president and chief social impact officer at UW Health and associate dean for social impact and belonging at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, was nominated by Juli Aulik. Swarsensky, a Holocaust survivor who settled in Madison after fleeing Nazi persecution, founded Temple Beth El on the city s near west side. Swarsensky dedicated his life to peacemaking and forgiveness, Joe Loehnis, who chaired this year s selection committee, told the crowd at the Rotary Club lunche