The Cook County Health (CCH) Board of Directors voted to appoint two new leaders at its annual meeting on Friday, July 30. Lyndon A. Taylor, Partner in Charge – Chicago at Heidrick & Struggles, Inc., was appointed Chair and Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer was appointed Vice Chair. These leadership terms will last one year. The Board also welcomed a new member, Dr. Karen E. Kim, Professor of Medicine, Vice Provost for Research at the University of Chicago and Associate Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, who is serving a three-year term.

Mr. Taylor leads Heidrick & Struggles’ North American CEO & Board of Directors Practice as well as the firm’s global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Practice across executive search and consulting. He works with both privately-held and publicly-traded clients on executive leadership and board director search and succession engagements. He also advises organizations across sectors on diversity and inclusion strategies, particularly talent management and succession. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) and serves on the Forums Committee of the Economic Club of Chicago. He also recently served as a director of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the CFA Society Chicago. Mr. Taylor earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business, and both a BA in history, with honors, and a BS in ethnic studies from Southern Methodist University.

Commissioner Deer joined the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2017 and the Cook County Health Board of Directors in 2018. He is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Clinically Certified Forensic Counselor, and a Certified Corrective Thinking Therapist.  Commissioner Deer serves on several not-for-profit and community boards including Strategic Human Services and North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council which he co-founded. He was also recently appointed to the advisory board of the National Institutes of Health. He was also appointed to the Illinois Department of Human Services Domestic Violence Advisory Council and is Vice President of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Commissioner Deer is a graduate of Jackson State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Elementary/Special Education and the Master of Science in Rehabilitation Psychology. He later went on to earn his Ph.D. in Christian Psychology.

Dr. Kim is a Professor of Medicine, Vice Provost for Research at the University of Chicago and Associate Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr Kim is the founder and director of the University of Chicago Center for Asian Health Equity, a national platform for advancing the health of Asian and African immigrant communities through community-engaged health research, training and policy strategies.  The overarching focus of Dr. Kim’s research is on generating the evidence to reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations by utilizing community-engaged health services research methods and accounting for the impact of social determinants on health. Dr. Kim serves as the principal investigator on numerous federal grants to address cancer control among racial ethnic minority communities and the nuanced and complex factors influencing disparities among these underserved populations

One of the largest public health systems in the nation, CCH serves as the safety-net for health care in Chicago and suburban Cook County. CCH is comprised of two hospitals, a robust network of community health centers, the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center, the Cook County Department of Public Health, Correction Health Services, which provides health care to individuals at the Cook County Jail and the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and CountyCare, the largest Medicaid managed care health plan in Cook County.

Through the health system and the health plan, CCH cares for more than 500,000 individuals each year, and its physicians are experts in their fields, committed to providing their patients with comprehensive, compassionate and cutting-edge care. Today, CCH is transforming the provision of health care in Cook County by promoting community-based primary and preventive care, growing an innovative, collaborative health plan, and enhancing the patient experience.

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Alexandra Normington, Associate Chief Communications & Marketing Officer
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