Crain's Chicago Business

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2022

EXECUTIVES OF COLOR IN HEALTHCARE

These accomplished executives of color have broken barriers as they ascended to positions of influence in health care. This group includes administrators at hospitals and health systems as well as educators and executives in pharma and insurance.

With the pandemic hitting Black and Brown communities hard, these Notables worked to provide relief, make vaccines and boosters available and educate families on safety measures.

They led their own organizations through the response to COVID, securing personal protective equipment, implementing protocols and ensuring the safety

of patients and staff. With heightened awareness over racial inequality, they established or expanded diversity programs.

And they led initiatives to educate physicians and staff on unconscious bias and the impact of racism on health.

Many have led pioneering work on health care issues—from the impact of fatigue on medical residents to the effect of opioids on mothers and newborns. Others have taken an active role in nonprofit and civic organizations. They are breaking new ground.

By Judith Crown and Lisa Bertagnoli

VINEET ARORA Dean of medical education University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine

Dr. Vineet Arora was named dean of medical education last year and leads COVID response, curriculum redesign and professional development.

She’s pivoted to ensure UChicago trainees are engaged in clinical training and community investment.

Arora has led the development of innovative programs to reduce burnout, improve ease of practice and augment teambased care. She founded the nonprofit Illinois Medical Professional Action Collaborative Team to organize Illinois clinicians to advance evidence-based policy during the pandemic. Last year, she won funding to assist female and minority faculty facing pandemic-related career delays.

Before assuming the deanship, Arora served as the Herbert T. Abelson professor of medicine and assistant dean for scholarship and discovery. She’s led pioneering work on resident sleep, fatigue and handoffs that have informed changes in residency hours.

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DONNICA AUSTIN-CATHEY President Holy Cross Hospital

Appointed in 2020, Donnica Austin-Cathey is the first African American woman to serve as president of Holy Cross, which is part of the Sinai Health System. She’s been instrumental in meeting the changing needs of a safety net environment in the midst of a global pandemic.

Austin-Cathey has been a leader in Sinai’s ongoing transformational efforts, as well as in opening new units at Holy Cross Hospital, including the Center for Addiction Treatment & Recovery, Center for Advanced Wound Healing, as well as a new infusion center and shortstay unit. Austin-Cathey has led initiatives to drive positive patient experience, improve quality scores, build new programs and create a diverse leadership team. Previously, she served as vice president of operations for acute care hospitals in the Sinai Health System.

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METHODOLOGY: The individuals featured did not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from the nomination materials submitted. This list is not comprehensive. It includes only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by editors. To qualify for the list, nominees must have demonstrated leadership in expanding the business, service or technology side of health care.

EARL BARNES II

PRIYA BATHIJA

BRENDA BATTLE

Executive vice president and chief legal officer Amita Health

Vice president, strategic initiatives American Hospital Association

Senior vice president for community health transformation University of Chicago Medicine

At Amita Health, Earl Barnes II has served as strategic adviser to the board and senior leadership as the health system contemplated a breakup. Last fall, Lislebased Amita announced plans to split up the health system formed in 2015 by Ascension and AdventHealth. During the pandemic, Barnes shepherded the health system through a maze of regulations and protocols.

He also actively promoted the hiring, retention and promotion of people from diverse backgrounds in the legal profession and in health care. Barnes also has advocated for establishing specific metrics in order to better measure an organization’s achievement of diversity and inclusion goals. Barnes joined Amita Health in 2019 from Drinker Biddle & Reath. Earlier, he served in general counsel positions at Advocate Health Care, OhioHealth and Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

During the pandemic, Priya Bathija led AHA’s 100 Million Mask Challenge, which brought together individuals, businesses and manufacturers to increase availability of personal protective equipment for health care workers.

Bathija also leads AHA’s maternal health portfolio and designs resources to help hospitals reduce disparities and improve outcomes for women and children. This year, Bathija will take on additional leadership responsibilities for AHA’s Institute for Diversity & Health Equity. She led the launch of AHA’s D&I Council and helped start a training program to combat Asian hate.

Bathija teaches health care payment and policy as an adjunct professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. She serves on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of North America, where she founded a professional development program now in its second year.

At UChicago Medicine, Brenda Battle helped launch and lead the South Side Health Transformation Project, which secured $146 million in state funding over five years to transform health care on the South Side. She led the effort to secure an $8 million grant from AbbVie to expand UChicago Medicine’s team of community health workers.

Battle also is chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and led the development and 2020 launch of the medical center’s Equity Plan, which led to staff training, collaborations to develop department-specific DEI initiatives and increases in promotion rates for employees from diverse backgrounds.

Through her leadership role with the city’s Racial Equity Rapid Response Team and the Illinois Hospital Association, Battle helped develop and launch a tool for organizations to document their health equity work.

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14 MARCH 7, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

ROSALIND BREWER

HERBERT BUCHANAN

SHEELAH CABRERA

VALERIA COHRAN

DONNA COOPER

CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance

Chief operating officer AdventHealth Midwest region

Chief information officer La Rabida Children’s Hospital

Chief operating officer Duly Health & Care

After holding top executive positions at Sam’s Club and Starbucks, Rosalind Brewer joined Walgreens Boots Alliance as CEO in March 2021.

To the role, she brings expertise in strategic development, marketing, digital transformation, innovation and technology, supply chain and store development.

One of Brewer’s first initiatives was to join with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and 70 Chicago faith-based organizations to vaccinate more than 10,000 people at Walgreens-run clinics in local churches. The retailer has been at the center of fighting the pandemic, with more than 56 million vaccinations and 22.9 million tests as of early January.

And the chain surpassed expectations in the first quarter of 2022 with comparable U.S. sales up 10.6%. Brewer serves as chair of the board of trustees for Spelman College, her alma mater.

With the breakup of Amita Health, Herbert Buchanan assumes the chief operating officer position at AdventHealth Midwest region.

Previously, Buchanan served as CEO and president of Amita Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and oversaw Amita’s South region.

He led the organization through the health system’s COVID-19 response and recovery. Buchanan established an operating model that included frequent staff meetings on safety, monthly operating reviews and a 90-day action plan.

Buchanan grew the organization through recruitment of medical staff and restored volumes to pre-COVID levels. He built a diverse executive team in Joliet, developed a productivity system to achieve operating efficiency targets and launched a home pilot program. Before joining Amita, Buchanan was president of Indiana University Health Methodist & University Hospital in Indianapolis. He serves on the Illinois Hospital Association Diversity & Inclusion committee.

As chief information officer, Sheelah Cabrera has led recent campuswide IT infrastructure upgrades, including wireless enhancements and upgrades to two electronic medical record systems.

Her team implemented security upgrades for protection from ransomware, phishing and spoof attacks. The improvements helped facilitate staff work-fromanywhere opportunities during the pandemic. It also opened telehealth access, and the number of patients and families receiving care this way increased dramatically. Cabrera’s team provided tools, tips and direct support to help patients connect with their care teams. Cabrera joined La Rabida as manager, clinical informatics, in 2011 from University of Chicago Hospitals, where she was an informatics nurse specialist. She’s a longtime member of the American Nursing Informatics Association and a regular volunteer at the St. Vincent DePaul Parish Food Pantry & Food Distribution Center.

Medical director, intestinal rehabilitation and transplantation Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

As associate chair for equity, diversity and inclusion, Valeria Cohran led the hospital to double its recruitment of pediatric residents and fellows from underrepresented groups and facilitated DEI training for 70% of the hospital’s workforce. Nationally, she is helping expand diversity of patients in pediatric research, having been named co-chair of The Journal of Pediatrics’ DEI Task Force last year. Cohran also is the visionary behind Lurie’s Intestinal Rehabilitation & Transplantation Program, which emphasizes serving patients

of color. Cohran is co-chair of the Diversity Special Interest Group at the North American Society for Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition and a member of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Academy of Medical Educators.

Donna Cooper led Duly’s COVID response, ensuring access to care in the clinic and through telehealth sessions. Duly, which changed its name last year from DuPage Medical Group, was among the first to offer drive-thru testing and vaccine storage. Cooper led the creation of testing sites and clinics that administered hundreds of thousands of vaccinations. As COO, she oversees care for nearly 1 million patients at 125 sites.

Cooper joined DuPage Medical Group in 2018 from Advocate Medical Group, where she was chief operations officer. She participates in Women Build, a Habitat for Humanity endeavor that encourages women to build and advocate for affordable housing in their communities.

And she’s led volunteer teams in Duly’s annual Week of Service, which teams Duly staff members with local nonprofits.

Congratulations to

Valeria C. Cohran, MD, MS Medical Director, Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplantation Attending Physician, Gastroenterology Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Associate Professor of Pediatrics Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Associate Chair for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lurie Children’s and the Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

on being selected as one of Crain’s Chicago Business

2022 Notable Executives of Color in Healthcare.

All the leadership. All, for your one.®

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KIMBERLEY DAREY

ALLISON DAVENPORT

ESTHER DAVIS

LAKSHMI EMORY

CLAUDIA FEGAN

TER

Chief medical officer/vice president, medical affairs Elmhurst Hospital

Chief executive officer Riveredge Hospital

Senior vice president Alden Management Services

Chief medical officer Aetna Better Health of Illinois

Chief medical officer Cook County Health

Senio Gate

Allison Davenport last year was named CEO of Riveredge Hospital in Forest Park, the largest free-standing psychiatric hospital in Illinois, with 210 licensed beds. She leads a team of 400.

It’s a return to the hospital for Davenport, who served as chief operating officer between 2017 and 2020. Before returning to Chicago, she was CEO of Brynn Marr Hospital, a 102-bed psychiatric hospital in Jacksonville, N.C. As the top administrator at Riveredge, Davenport oversees clinical and nursing operations, risk management, quality, talent management and community engagement. The hospital offers training and continuing education for Chicago-area clinicians. In North Carolina, Davenport led a weekly televised segment sharing tips and guidance on managing mental health during the pandemic.

At Alden Management Services, Esther Davis oversees health outcomes, strategic planning, regulatory compliance, revenue management and satisfaction of employees, residents and families. Alden operates more than 40 facilities for seniors in the Chicago area, including skilled nursing, assisted living and rehabilitation. During the pandemic, Davis focused on infection prevention, which involved educating thousands of employees, residents, families and vendors.

Recently, she’s taken the lead on the development and implementation of employee engagement initiatives that include recognition programs, improved onboarding, enhanced education and training, as well as the development of career advancement pathways that help employees achieve personal and professional goals. Davis has worked at Alden for 12 years, with previous positions that include vice president of operations and risk management, regional director and director of rehabilitation/ therapeutic recreation programs.

Dr. Lakshmi Emory leads a vaccination campaign for Aetna’s 420,000 Medicaid members, targeting vulnerable members on Chicago’s South and West sides.

She participates in virtual and in-person community events to build confidence in COVID vaccines and the importance of being fully vaccinated. During the fall, Emory was part of the White House Virtual Conversation: Increasing COVID-19 Vaccination Rates in the Medicaid Community that was led by President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Response Team. Last year, she participated on expert panels, including the National Association of Health Services Executives C-suite Roundtable and the Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans’ Women in STEM panel. Emory started her career as a primary care physician. She joined Aetna in 2019 from Florida-based ChenMed, where she was chief medical officer for JenCare Illinois.

As chief medical officer for one of the country’s largest public health systems, Dr. Claudia Fegan has focused on ensuring care for some of the area’s most vulnerable individuals.

She serves as the primary medical executive over clinical services at Stroger and Provident hospitals, along with a network of community clinics and the health care facility at Cook County Jail. Fegan oversaw the rollout of one the largest mass vaccination efforts in the country. She advocates for universal access to care through her role at Cook County Health, in her capacity as national coordinator for the Physicians for a National Health Program and as board president for Health & Medicine Policy Research Group.

Fegan served as a health care adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders during his presidential campaign.

Duri Gara pers for G

As chief medical officer, Dr. Kimberley Darey has overseen the delivery of care during the pandemic. Her leadership has been instrumental in the development of practices that ensured treatments are based on science- and evidence-based protocols. As chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee at EdwardElmhurst Health, Darey has led initiatives to educate physicians and staff on unconscious bias and the impact of racism on health. She’s organized physician panels to discuss racial inequities and ways to develop a more inclusive work environment. When she was previously medical director of obstetrics and gynecology, Darey advanced the adoption of evidence-based medicine in the treatment of mothers and babies. She led initiatives to improve outcomes for mothers and newborns affected by opioids and safely reduced the rate of C-sections.

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TERESA GARATE

LACI GATEWOOD

SHAMI GOYAL

Senior vice president Gateway Foundation

Chief operating officer Josselyn

During the pandemic, Teresa Garate led efforts to obtain personal protective equipment for Gateway sites, and Illinois staff members who sought vaccinations received them by February 2021.

The foundation treats drug and alcohol addiction at 16 rehab centers in Illinois, California and Delaware. In the past 18 months, Garate secured more than $10 million in capital grants for program improvements and expansion and an additional $8.5 million for workforce capacity and program development.

Garate also leads the foundation’s multiyear Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, a response to the 2020 reckoning over racial inequality. She serves on the board of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and is a founding board member of mental health service Kennedy Forum Illinois. She speaks often on public health and nonprofit management topics.

Laci Gatewood in December joined Josselyn, a Northfieldbased nonprofit community mental health care provider, where she manages six departments and 35 staff members. Gatewood joined Josselyn from Illinois Action for Children, where she worked for 10 years and was most recently vice president of family and community services. In that position, she handled a budget of $30 million and managed 14 programs run by managers, supervisors and a staff of 275. At Illinois Action, Gatewood helped establish a statewide child care assistance program that enabled first responders and emergency workers to gain access to child care during the pandemic. She also launched a process that enabled the agency to return to in-person operations. Gatewood serves on the board of the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies.

Chief medical officer and coordinator Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation

LAKSHMI HALASYAMANI System chief clinical officer NorthShore–Edward-Elmhurst Health

Dr. Shami Goyal was a critical member of the agency that licenses medical professionals statewide during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She plans, directs and implements the Illinois Medical Practice Act related to the protection of the public’s health, welfare and safety. To remove barriers to entry to the medical professions and promote international medical graduates, she ensured that critical state regulatory agency documents are in English, Spanish, Polish and Mandarin. Goyal is an HIV/AIDS clinical scholar from the Midwest AIDS Training & Education Center, is a peer reviewer in several journals and has spoken about promoting healthy pregnancies in underserved populations as well preventing obesity in African American children and coronary stenosis in women. She has a master’s in medical management and physician leadership from Carnegie Mellon University.

During the pandemic, Dr. Lakshmi Halasyamani co-led efforts to ensure patients with advanced disease or clinically urgent situations were cared for safely, implemented personal protective equipment requirements that exceeded mandated guidelines and led health equity strategies to improve patient access and outcomes. She presented 20-plus episodes of live, interactive programming and partnered with local educators and communities of faith to educate minority groups that were at particular risk for COVID-19. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, she has Lean and Six Sigma Black Belt certifications and is published widely in the field of hospital medicine and quality improvement. Halasyamani volunteers as a physician at community free clinics, works annually in a rural health clinic in south India and is a member of The Bragdon Society.

BARRETT HATCHES CEO Chicago Family Health Center

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Barrett Hatches led the Chicago Family Health Center as it saw more than 45,000 patients, shifted to telehealth from in-person appointments, worked on COVID testing and vaccination efforts on the South Side, partnered with Fresh Moves Mobile Market to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to food deserts, and began a home blood-pressure monitoring program for patients with hypertension. Hatches also leads collaboration efforts to form the South Side Healthy Community Organization, implementing a comprehensive community model focused on primary and specialty care access, preventive and chronic care management, care coordination and management, provider collaboration, community engagement, and a connected digital and technological infrastructure. Prior to joining the CFHC, Hatches was CEO of Kansas City-based Swope Health Services, which serves more than 45,000 patients in Missouri and Kansas.

Congratulations to

Dana M. Thompson, MD, MS, MBA, FACS Division Head, Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Lauren D. Holinger, MD Professorship in Pediatric Otolaryngology Vice Chair Ambulatory Practice, Department of Surgery Executive Physician Director, Ambulatory Practice Member, Lurie Children's Surgical Foundation Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Professor of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

on being selected as one of Crain’s Chicago Business

2022 Notable Executives of Color in Healthcare.

All the leadership. All, for your one.®

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18 MARCH 7, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

AUDIEY KAO

ALI KHAN

Vice president of ethics American Medical Association

Chief medical officer, Value-Based Care Strategy Oak Street Health

As editor of the AMA Journal of Ethics, Dr. Audiey Kao has raised awareness of issues such as the structural roots of racial and ethnic health inequities, transgenerational trauma, health care and homelessness, health justice and diversity in medical school admissions, and inequity along the medical/ dental divide. Two-thirds of his unit’s colleagues are women, people of color or LGBTQ, and the journal has an increasingly diverse group of contributors and reviewers. A practicing internist, Kao since 2005 has cared for individuals without health insurance by volunteering at CommunityHealth, a free clinic on the West Side of Chicago that serves a diverse patient population.

Over the past decade, he’s been a volunteer with Tzu Chi USA and its mission to provide medical and humanitarian relief.

In 2021, Dr. Ali Khan established partnerships with Chicago and Cook County to secure vaccine doses, enabling Oak Street to vaccinate more than 500 of its own employees, 3,000 independent health care workers and thousands of Chicago-area patients and community members. In late 2020, he also launched an effort to expand community testing in Chicago’s hardest hit, predominantly Black and Latino ZIP codes. Khan is a co-founder and chief policy officer of the Illinois Medical Professional Action Collaborative Team, a regional group of physicians and professionals working to effect policy, social and community actions. He serves on the clinical faculty of the Pritzker School of Medicine and has also served on the national boards of Doctors for America, the American College of Physicians and Physicians for Human Rights.

RAJLAKSHMI KRISHNAMURTHY Chief clinical transformation officer and vice president-population health UChicago Medicine

Dr. Rajlakshmi Krishnamurthy, who oversees a team of community health workers and social workers, established a Care Transition Clinic for COVID-19 patients and led efforts to administer therapies like monoclonal antibodies to help avoid hospitalizations. She also leads the sickle cell day program and racial equity rapid response team and is leading efforts to include social determinants of health screenings for all inpatients and outpatients.

She co-chairs a medical center DEI task force as well as the care model design for the South Side Health Transformation Project.

Krishnamurthy also is focused on ambulatory quality improvement using an equity lens on diabetes hypertension control, cancer screening and more. Nationally, she’s involved with Vizient work groups on health equity and vulnerability.

THE FOREFRONT OF LEADERSHIP

ANKIT MEHTA

RANI MORRISON

DIA

Neurosurgeon and director of spinal oncology UI Health

Chief diversity and community health equity officer UI Health

Dr. Ankit Mehta’s career has been focused on cancer and, in particular, the poor prognoses of patients with spinal cord tumors. As the director of Spinal Oncology, Mehta leads a diverse, international laboratory team that focuses on examining animal models of spinal tumors to apply findings to new treatments for patients with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and cancer.

His lab group has investigated the use of magnetically targeted nanoparticles on tumors and metastases, which potentially could allow drug delivery to the spinal cord (bypassing the bloodbrain barrier) and penetrate the tumor, causing cell death. Mehta is fellowship trained in enfolded stereotactic radiosurgery, complex spine surgery and spinal oncology, and he has published more than 160 peer-reviewed articles and seven book chapters.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rani Morrison led the implementation and deployment of video visitation as well as the restructuring of case management, social work and physicianadviser programs for the health system.

She also served as operational lead for the clinical case management transition to Epic. As UI Health’s first chief diversity and community health equity officer, she created the Cultural & Heritage Months Subcommittee as well as the Committee for Anti-Racism & Equity to conduct a hospital policy review. Morrison has also advocated for expanding charity care to improve access to care. Video visits led to less isolation and the ability of family members to engage with patients and caregivers despite pandemic restrictions. She is a founding member and on the steering committee of Women in Healthcare Chicago.

Presi Hosp Patie Advo

Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP

Herbert T. Abelson Professor of Medicine and Dean for Medical Education, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine

The University of Chicago Medicine congratulates these leaders for being recognized as Notable Executives of Color in Healthcare by Crain’s Chicago Business. We are grateful for their leadership and commitment to advancing our mission by training the next generation of clinicians and providing superior healthcare to the communities we serve.

Brenda Battle, RN, BSN, MBA

Senior Vice President for Community Health Transformation and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, UChicago Medicine

Rajlakshmi Krishnamurthy, MD UChicagoMedicine.org

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Chief Clinical Transformation Officer and Vice President for Population Health, UChicago Medicine

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DIA NICHOLS

DARRYL PENDLETON

ISRAEL ROCHA

President, Lutheran General Hospital and Central Chicagoland Patient Service Area Advocate Aurora Health

Associate dean for Student & Diversity Affairs, College of Dentistry Executive director, Urban Health Program University of Illinois Chicago

CEO Cook County Health

Dia Nichols is responsible for Advocate Aurora Health’s second-largest service area, Central Chicagoland, which spans more than 3,800 physicians and 8,000 team members across Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Lutheran General Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital. He regularly makes rounds with physicians and team members—including spending a day helping a staffer named Lola, who has worked at Advocate for 42 years, clean bathrooms and floors.

Nichols serves on the American Cancer Society’s Illinois board and its DEI Committee, among other civic engagements, and is a regular guest lecturer at the University of South Florida’s College of Business. He previously served as CEO with Amita Health-Alexian Brothers Medical Center, where the organization was named among the nation’s top 50 hospitals and top 1% for clinical outcomes by Healthgrades.

In fall 2021, under Dr. Darryl Pendleton’s leadership, the College of Dentistry enrolled one of its most diverse first-year classes ever, with 40% Black and Hispanic students. The college also created a student advocate position, established a Resilience Center and is hiring a licensed clinical social worker to address students’ social and mental health needs. Pendleton also held several fundraisers for Goldie’s Place, a student-run dental clinic for the homeless in Chicago. He also co-authored two important research articles in the Journal of Dental Education: “Enhancing Ethical Behavior” and “The Role of the Dental School Environment in Promoting Greater Student Diversity.” Pendleton is president of the Chicago Dental Society Kenwood-Hyde Park Branch and a member of the executive committee of the Lincoln Dental Society.

In December 2020, Israel Rocha became CEO of Cook County Health and oversaw the implementation of one of the country’s most extensive vaccination campaigns, administering more than 940,000 doses.

Shuttered big-box stores, community colleges and convention centers were repurposed as vaccine sites, and a vaccine mandate for CCH employees yielded nearly 98% compliance.

Rocha also oversees the health program at the Cook County Jail.

In 2021, CCH opened state-ofthe-art clinics in Belmont Cragin and Blue Island, increased services at Provident Hospital and launched an Office of Equity & Inclusion to bring various sectors of the health system together to collaborate. Rocha came to CCH after serving as vice president at the New York City Health + Hospitals system. He was recently appointed to the Illinois Hospital Association’s board of trustees.

CHERYL RUCKERWHITAKER CEO Complete Care Management Partners

Dr. Cheryl Rucker-Whitaker’s expertise is in translating epidemiologic, acute care and social determinants of health data into services for underserved populations.

She founded Complete Care Management Partners in 2021 when, at the height of the pandemic, a payer needed help reaching several thousand medically complex people in ZIP codes with high death rates. She then built a workforce of 40-strong—and 85% people of color—from that same medically complex population that, once vaccinated and trained, could go out and vaccinate the community. She also advises companies working to understand how to apply equity principles to underserved populations, including breastexam medical-device-maker Bexa.

Rucker-Whitaker is a member of The Chicago Network; the entrepreneur-in-residence to Health2047 Capital Partners, an AMA-backed venture-capital firm dedicated to health care solutions; and a board member of Equality Health.

JOSE SANCHEZ President and CEO Humboldt Park Health

Under Jose Sanchez’s leadership in 2021, Humboldt Park Health launched its new name along with a tagline, “Advancing Health Equity,” to emphasize a renewed commitment that patients have opportunities to be as healthy as possible. The year before, the hospital secured more than $20 million in public funding for the development of a new Wellness Center

in the Humboldt Park community—groundbreaking is scheduled for this year—which will extend the hospital’s continuum of care for area residents. In conjunction with community partners, HPH also launched two major ambulatory clinics, the Aunt Martha’s Integrated Primary Care Clinic and Near North-Razem Health Clinic. Prior to joining HPH in 2011, Sanchez was a senior health care executive with over 30 years of experience.

Congratulationss tto oo our ur on being featured in Crain’s Chicago Business as one of its Notable Executives of Color in Healthcare!

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20 MARCH 7, 2022 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

MAURICE SMITH

DIANA SOTO

DANA THOMPSON

DONNA THOMPSON

DEI IN HEALTH CARE

President and CEO Health Care Service Corp.

Director of nursing NE Healthcare Services

CEO Access Community Health Network

Under Maurice Smith’s leadership, Health Care Service Corp. acted throughout the pandemic to increase access to care, waiving cost-sharing for COVID-19 tests and treatments, expanding telehealth coverage and waiving early refill limits to support medication adherence. Circumventing hospital shortages, HCSC established an Employee Clinician Volunteer Program that encouraged company clinicians to assist in administering vaccines. It also redeployed mobile health vans to distribute vaccines to high-risk and rural populations. Smith’s commitment to universal access to care is reflective in HCSC’s expansion of Medicare Advantage coverage to 1.1 million individuals, particularly in rural and underserved areas. He serves as a Civic Federation trustee and as vice chair of Roosevelt University, and he is on the boards of Ventas, the Economic Club of Chicago, Executives’ Club of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago.

As director of nursing at NE Healthcare Services, Diana Soto guides the agency while working on innovations to its telehealth system. A registered nurse with 25 years of specialty experience in administration and education, as well as 13 years as a traumacertified nurse, she now leads professional development and ensures best practices for staff nurses. She also oversees general clinic operations, including finances, human resources and grant management. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and is a board member at Fenix Medical Clinic. One of Crain’s “Health Care Heroes” for 2020, Soto had more than 70 COVID-19 patients referred to her for care, including many cases in which she was the only person they saw throughout quarantine.

Division head, OtorhinolaryngologyHead & Neck Surgery Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

A look at diversity inside U.S. medical schools and health systems.

Under Dr. Dana Thompson’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Surgery extended its telemedicinecare models, increased the digitalization of care coordination across medical specialties and boosted the implementation of online scheduling platforms, resulting in improved patient access to care. Thompson is believed to be the first African American female professor in otolaryngology-head

and neck surgery in the United States. At Lurie, Thompson also is the Lauren D. Holinger, MD, professor of pediatric otolaryngology; vice chair of the ambulatory practice in the Department of Surgery; executive physician director of the ambulatory practice; and professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Donna Thompson has driven Access Community Health Network to reimagine its care delivery model to expand access and deliver comprehensive wraparound services and programs to meet the needs of some of the area’s most vulnerable communities.

Under her guidance, the system developed networkwide Medication Assisted Recovery services, which take a comprehensive approach to drug addiction treatment. In 2015, Access opened its NIH-funded Access Center for Discovery & Learning in Chicago’s Englewood/Back of the Yards community to bring meaningful community-led research directly to those most in need. Thompson, a registered nurse, has built a diverse senior leadership team to reflect the multicultural identity of Access’ communities and workforce.

White Hispanic

Black Asian

PHYSICIANS 67%

5%

6%

20%

MEDICAL SCHOOL ENROLLEES 49% 8%

7%

23%

HOSPITAL LEADERSHIP 88%

4%

2%

6%

MEDICAL SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 74%

9%

4%

13%

Source: NEJM Catalyst

2022

EXECUTIVES OF COLOR IN CONSTRUCTION AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

NOMINATE NOW! LAST CALL Deadline is Friday, Mar. 11

Nominate at ChicagoBusiness.com/NotableConstruction To view Crain’s Notable Executives nomination programs, visit chicagobusiness.com/notablenoms.

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