Chicago Department of Public Health – Informatics, Performance Management, and Quality Improvement

I have championed process improvement at the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) since 2021. I’m currently Director of Informatics, leading a team of project managers that analyze needs and facilitate solutions for units across the department, developing systems to streamline operations and improve data. I also manage CDPH’s current reaccreditation with the Public Health Accreditation Board, as well as our Performance Management & Quality Improvement initiative, which focuses on programmatic activities that reduce the life expectancy gap between Black and non-Black Chicagoans.

These build on my previous role as Director of Continuous Improvement & Performance Management, in which I oversaw over 20 projects and partnered with dozens of staff in CDPH and the City’s Office of Budget & Management and Department of Human Resources.

The COVID pandemic brought into sharp relief the need to improve and better support public health operations. My work with CDPH began as a project manager in its then-COVID Bureau, which was formed to coordinate the City’s public health response to the pandemic in collaboration with partners including public and private health providers and first responder agencies. I managed a database supporting vaccination events and coordinated the successful submission of a $16.7 million workforce development grant to the Centers for Disease Control before turning my focus to broader departmental processes.

CDPH works with communities and partners to create an equitable, safe, resilient, and healthy Chicago. The department has a complex charge, with a wide range of programs that include behavioral health, chronic disease, emergency preparedness, infectious disease, maternal and child health, and food safety, to name a few. My team manages improvements in service to these programs and to Chicagoans.