Eric E. Whitaker, MD, MPH

Executive Vice President, Strategic Affiliations

Associate Dean, Community-Based Research

Dr. Eric E. Whitaker is the Executive Vice President, Strategic Affiliations and Associate Dean of Community-based Research at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). He is responsible for leading the UCMC’s Urban Health Initiative, linking the Medical Center’s mission of patient care, teaching and research for the purpose of improving the health of South Side residents.

Until October, 2007, he served as Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). In this capacity, Dr. Whitaker oversaw an agency with a budget of $450 million with over 1,200 employees statewide, as well as 3 laboratories and seven regional offices.

Prior to his appointment at the State, Dr. Whitaker was an attending physician in Internal Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and a member of its Collaborative Research Unit. His research interests included HIV/AIDS prevention and minority health, particularly for black males. He helped found Project Brotherhood: A Black Men’s Clinic, a weekly clinic for African American men housed in Woodlawn Adult Health Center, which is affiliated with the Cook County Bureau of Health Services. African American men die prematurely from preventable diseases and this innovative clinic provides free haircuts to entice men to visit. Visitors to the clinic receive a holistic approach to health and wellness that addresses their physical as well as mental, vocational and spiritual needs. In 2000, the project received the highest award accorded by the National Association of Public Hospital and Health Systems.

In 1991, Dr. Whitaker represented the 30,000 members of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) as its national president while testifying twice before the U.S. Congress regarding national health insurance and minority health issues. In November 2003, he was named as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ Forty under Forty Chicago’s rising stars in business and government.

Dr. Whitaker received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Grinnell College in 1987, and in 1993 a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health and a medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He also has completed coursework at the Northwestern Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Dr. Whitaker serves on the boards of WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio), the Chicago 2016 Olympics Committee, Partnership for Prevention, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Grinnell College.