Everett Vokes ,MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine, recently announced 4 new leadership appointments in the Department of Medicine effective January 1, 2022: Doriane Miller, MD has been appointed as interim Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Monica Peek, MD, MPH, MS has been appointed as Associate Vice Chair for Research Faculty Development; Thomas Spiegel, MD, MS, MBA has been appointed as interim Chief, Section of Emergency Medicine, and James Manthey, MBA has been named as Executive Administrator.
Dr. Miller, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) and Director of the Center for Community Health and Vitality for UCM, received her MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine in 1983. She completed her internal medicine training and general medicine/clinical epidemiology fellowship training at UCSF. In 1991, she was appointed to the UCSF faculty where she remained for 6 years. In 1997, she joined the faculty at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey where she served for four years. In addition, she was a program vice-president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Prior to joining the Department of Medicine in January 2009, Dr. Miller served as national program director of New Health Partnerships, a demonstration project funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation on collaborative self-management support.
Dr. Miller has been providing care to under-resourced minority communities for more than 30 years. She has a special interest in behavioral health. Under her leadership, physicians, educators and community members work to improve population health outcomes for residents on the South Side of Chicago through community-engaged research, demonstration and service models. She has pioneered the use of a novel model, Community Grand Rounds, a series of educational events in community settings that focus on health care topics of importance to local communities.
Dr. Miller’s research focuses on the intersection of health disparities and race. She has served as the project director for several studies designed to augment care by promoting collaboration among physicians, patients and families. She has worked with a variety of programs such as Community Rx and the ITM to engage trainees in understanding social determinants of health on the south side of Chicago and to connect patients with advisory committees in local clinical research to ensure meaningful community participation. Dr. Miller’s work in the area of improving asthma outcomes through school and community interventions was noted by the American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology with a 2006 Special Recognition Award.
As interim Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dr. Miller will lead the Department’s DEI Committee and efforts to promote diversity through the recruitment, retention, mentorship and promotion of students, housestaff and faculty underrepresented in medicine, to foster an inclusive climate free of harmful bias and to assist in the delivery of equitable health care practices for our patients and communities.
Dr. Peek, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) received her MPH in Health Policy and Management and her MD from Johns Hopkins University prior to completing her clinical training as an Internal Medicine Resident from Stanford University Hospital. She then worked for the National Health Service Corps for two years at a community health center for the medically underserved in Ohio before joining the faculty of the Department of Medicine in 2006.
Dr. Peek’s work has focused on improving the health and health care for marginalized populations, such as racial/ethnic minorities. Her research has explored promoting equitable doctor/patient relationships among racial minorities, integrating the medical and social needs of patients, and addressing healthcare discrimination and structural racism that impact health outcomes (e.g., diabetes, COVID-19). She has conducted impactful work on reducing health care disparities and improving the health of residents on the South Side of Chicago by implementing, evaluating and disseminating a successful multi-faceted NIH R18 intervention to improve diabetes outcomes. Dr. Peek is currently the Co-PI for the national program Bridging The Gap: Reducing Disparities in Diabetes Care, which supports healthcare systems to combine medical and social care needs of marginalized populations to improve diabetes health outcomes. Her efforts this year are particularly noteworthy as she worked as a clinician, bioethicist, public health expert and health services researcher to advocate for policy and clinical solutions to disparities in COVID-19 prevention (e.g. vaccine distribution), care and health outcomes.
Dr. Peek has served as the principal investigator of multiple grants from institutions such as NIH/NIDDK, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Greenwall Foundation and the Merck Foundation. She is a Senior Associate Editor for the journal Health Services Research, a member of the Executive Council for the American Diabetes Association and a recent member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) for the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ).
Dr. Peek has mentored individuals at all levels, from community leaders to trainees in high school, college, medical school, residency and fellowship, and junior faculty colleagues. Her long-standing track record of mentorship has been integral in the development of academic physicians focused on health disparities and community health.
In her role as Associate Vice Chair for Research Faculty Development, Dr. Peek will work closely with Drs. Gilad and Mirmira to advise and mentor research fellows and faculty underrepresented in medicine (UiM) in their scholarly activities and career advancement. She will also support the work of Dr. Miller to promote diversity through the recruitment, retention and promotion of UiM faculty.
Dr. Spiegel will assume the role of interim Chief for the Section of Emergency Medicine following the appointment of Christine Babcock.MD as Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education (GME) and Designated Institutional Officer (DIO) for the Pritzker School of Medicine.
Dr. Spiegel received his MD in 2005 from the University of Nebraska (UN) where he also completed his emergency medicine residency training in 2008 and served as chief resident for one year. He also holds an MBA in Management Information Systems (1994) and MS in Finance (1998) from the same institution. Upon completion of his residency training Dr. Spiegel served on the UN faculty as an instructor for six years before joining the Department of Medicine in 2014 as assistant professor and medical director of the Emergency Department (ED). In 2020 he was promoted to associate professor. In October 2021, Dr. Spiegel was appointed as Associate Section Chief for Clinical Operations where he has been responsible for the overall clinical performance and operations of the ED, including patient flow, medical care, and operational efficiency.
Dr. Spiegel’s interests are focused on improving the patient experience, increasing operational efficiency, and leveraging health-care data with predictive analytics and data mining in formulating long-term strategies for the Emergency Department. Along with Dr. Linda Druelinger, Dr. Spiegel was instrumental in the planning and implementation of the new Adult Emergency Room as well as the launch of the level one Trauma Center. He is also responsible for many operational improvements in the ED relating to through-put including the use of data driven metrics to evaluate the decision time to discharge after completion of laboratory and imaging studies, patient safety and satisfaction. Noteworthy initiatives include the Rapid Admission Process implemented by him focusing on rapid assessment and treatment leading to a rapid admission decision for clinically ill patients. At the onset on COVID, Dr. Spiegel, along with the entire ED team, helped execute major COVID response efforts in the adult ED by implementing multiple processes and new treatments to provide outstanding care for COVID patients, as well as continuing to care for non COVID patients.
In addition to Dr. Spiegel’s leadership role in the Section of Emergency Medicine, he serves as a core innovator/scholar for the Center for Healthcare Delivery Science and Innovation and an affiliated analyst for the Center for Quality/Data and Analytics.
Dr. Spiegel is also a recognized leader nationally and regionally where he serves the American College of Emergency Physicians as chair of the Medical Director Section Leadership Team, and serves on the Patient Quality and Safety Committee and the Clinical Emergency Data Registry Committee. He also serves as co- chair of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians Practice Management Committee.
Dr. Spiegel is dedicated to training the next generation of emergency medicine physicians and has been recognized as an outstanding clinician, educator, and role model by the Emergency Medicine residents. He is a past recipient of the Section’s Outstanding Emergency Medicine Faculty Mentorship Award.
Jim Manthey will begin his tenure as Executive Administrator for the Department of Medicine after serving in an interim capacity since May 2021 following the departure of Julie White. His appointment follows a national search for the role. Jim has done an extraordinary job as the operational, financial and administrative leader for the Department during the transition and I am most grateful for his hard work and dedication.
Jim received his BS in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998 and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business in 2006. He started his career at the University of Chicago 23 years ago as a budget analyst in the BSD rising to the position of assistant budget director in 2005. In 2006 he joined UCM’s finance office as director of budget of operations and was promoted to executive director of budget operations and resource analysis in 2008 where he served for 4 years before joining the joining the Department of Medicine in 2012 as associate executive administrator.
During his time in the Department of Medicine Jim has done outstanding work, partnering with me and the executive leadership team to implement my vision and achieve the mission-specific goals for the Department. His accomplishments are numerous. Specifically, I would like to recognize him for his expert management of the Department’s $250M annual budget, aligning it with institutional expectations and departmental priorities as well as his success in streamlining the complex internal budget process and navigating funds flow. Most recently, he has overseen the operations and staff development of all of our centralized functions, maintaining their high level of service and productivity during the pandemic.