Letter from the IOMC President  Raul Garza

A MESSAGE TO OUR FELLOWS and COLLEAGUES

February 2023 

Dear Institute of Medicine Chicago (IOMC) Community,

With my first communication of 2023, I would like to take an opportunity to formally wish each and every one of you a very Happy New Year. I hope that you were able to enjoy a happy and healthy holiday season with your loved ones and that this new year brings you nothing but success.

I would also like to recognize the efforts of our members over the past year, not only within IOMC, but also within the greater healthcare community. It is only with the dedication of the passionate healthcare leaders that make up IOMC’s membership that the organization is able to continue making a positive impact on the health of our communities. I am honored to work with each of you and I am delighted that IOMC is continuing to grow with the admission of several new fellows.

As we look to the coming year, I would like to reiterate the focus I communicated in my last letter – a commitment to approach the work of the IOMC during my tenure as President through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Now is the time for IOMC and its members, as healthcare leaders, to enhance our impact within the many underserved communities of color in Chicago and beyond.

To that end, IOMC’s December Leadership Summit was dedicated to the DCFS Placement Crisis for youth in psychiatric hospitals beyond medical necessity. During the event, I was pleased to have had an opportunity to moderate a panel discussion, which featured three respected experts within the child welfare arena, including Marc Smith (Director of the Department of Children and Family Services), Dana Weiner, Ph.D. (Senior Policy Fellow at the University of Chicago Chapin Hall, Director of the Illinois Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative, and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director at DCFS), and Matthew M. Davis, M.D., MAPP (Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Lurie Children’s Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine). Healthcare leaders from across the Chicagoland area joined IOMC and the panelists for a robust, impactful discussion on this all-important topic. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a tremendous success.

Lastly, I would like to take a moment to highlight a number of upcoming IOMC events, which I hope will be similarly successful in advancing health equity:

• February 24, 2023 – Advancing Maternal Health and Child: Prioritizing Issues and Action Plan for Impact

Anita Stewart, MD, MPH, JD, Medical Director, Gov. Programs, BCBS-IL, Billings Fellow, IOMC

Lisa Green, DO, MPH, CEO, Family Christian Health Center, Fellow, IOMC

•  March 10, 2023 – Resistance to Adopting Childhood Vaccines: Is this a Rising Public Health Issue?

Maurice Lemon, MD, MPH, Billings Fellow, Board Director, and Co-Chair of the Program Committee, Institute of Medicine of Chicago

Jacqueline Korpics, MD, MPH, FAAP, COVID-19 Lead, Cook County Department of Public Health, Pediatrician, Cook County Health, Associate Program Director, Cook County Health & Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine General Preventive Medicine Training Program, Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

And other speakers.

• April 20, 2023 – Integrating and Building Lives: Homelessness is a Public Health Issue In-person at A Safe Haven Foundation, with participation by Institute of Medicine of Chicago, Cook County Department of Public Health, and the West Side Heroin and Opioid Task Force

• May 5, 2023 – Patient Safety Issues: Who is Keeping an Eye on Them?

• June 22, 2023 – 2023 Healthcare Awards & Annual Meeting

Best wishes, 

Raul Garza

President, Institute of Medicine Chicago

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