Chicago Department of Public Health – Continuous Improvement & Performance Management

The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) works with communities and partners to create an equitable, safe, resilient, and healthy Chicago. CDPH 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. Adding to this complexity are layers of administrative systems that handle personnel, finance, procurement, data management, and other infrastructural functions.

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.

As Director of Continuous Improvement & Performance Management, I supervise a team of project managers that analyze and improve administrative and operational processes. We are strengthening a culture of performance management:

• working with programs to articulate metrics-based theories of change,
• conducting current state/target state process improvement analyses, and
• establishing cycles of continuous improvement.

Two of our project managers are Lean Six Sigma Black Belts, and I am a Green Belt.

Our administrative accomplishments have created momentum. In 2023, we managed 20 projects to streamline personnel, contracts, and finance processes and partnered with 22 staff in CDPH, the City’s Office of Budget & Management, and the City’s Department of Human Resources to develop and launch 5 apps using MS Power Platforms.

We also help spark ideas and support similar work across the City through the Civic Innovation Group, a dynamic bunch of fellow travelers representing a range of departments.