June 25, 2018

Ronald Wyatt, MD, MHA is the new Chief Quality Officer for the Cook County Health (CCH), which is one of the largest public health care systems in the country.

Dr. Wyatt has extensive experience and is a noted expert in healthcare quality and patient safety, having been recognized as one of Becker’s Hospital Review’s “Top 50 Patient Safety Experts in the USA.”  Prior to coming to CCH, he was Chief Quality Officer for Hamad Health Care Institute in Qatar, where he oversaw all regulatory and accreditation services and also initiated a system-wide harm reduction collaborative on sepsis reduction.

Dr. Wyatt was also the Patient Safety Officer and Medical Director for The Joint Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.

A graduate of the University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Medicine, Dr. Wyatt said he was eager to work at CCH, because of a rotation he did at the health system as a medical student.

“The leadership here is nationally recognized, and the safety and quality team are experienced and motivated,” Dr. Wyatt said.

But the most important attraction for him, he said, was the population being served at Cook County Health and the fact that CCH takes care of everyone, whether they can pay or not.

“It is important to me that health care addresses disparity and inequities including racism and social determinants of health,” Dr. Wyatt said.  “These efforts are underway here, and I am excited to be involved, to learn and to serve.”