Two Department of Medicine faculty have received distinguished service professorships or named professorships effective July 1, 2022: Marshall Chin, MD, MPH has been named the Richard Parrillo Family Distinguished Service Professor, and Karen Kim, MD has been named as the Sara and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor.
Dr. Chin is renowned for his extraordinary contributions towards advancing health equity. He is a practicing general internist and health services researcher who has dedicated his career to advancing health equity through interventions at individual, organizational, community, and policy levels. Through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Advancing Health Equity: Leading Care, Payment, and Systems Transformation program, Dr. Chin collaborates with teams of state Medicaid agencies, Medicaid managed care organizations, and frontline healthcare organizations to implement payment reforms to support and incentivize care transformations that advance health equity. He co-chairs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network Health Equity Advisory Team, and he partners with eight urban and rural communities to integrate medical and social care to reduce diabetes disparities through the Merck Foundation Bridging the Gap program. Dr. Chin currently advises the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute on their health disparities portfolio and is the lead subject matter expert working with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to update their strategic plan for health equity research. He formerly was a member of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities National Advisory Council and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Preventive Services Task Force.
Dr. Chin is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, and he completed residency and fellowship training in general internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. In 1994, he joined the faculty in the Department of Medicine as an Assistant Professor. In 2009, Dr. Chin was promoted to Professor with tenure, and in 2012, in recognition of his achievements, was named as the Richard Parrillo Family Professor of Healthcare Ethics. Dr. Chin is Co-Director of the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research; Associate Chief and Director of Research in the Section of General Internal Medicine; and Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. He has received mentoring awards from the Society of General Internal Medicine and University of Chicago. He is a former President of the Society of General Internal Medicine. Dr. Chin was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 and will join its Council July 2022.
Dr. Kim is an outstanding health services researcher and a leader in women’s health, work life balance and mentorship. She is a tireless advocate for ensuring equal access and delivery of health care to underserved population particularly focused on health disparities research in Asian Americans. In 1997, Dr. Kim joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine where she currently serves as Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition), Vice Provost for Research and Senior Research Officer at the University of Chicago, Associate Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, founder and director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center Office of Community Engagement and Cancer Health Equity, and founder and director of the University of Chicago Center for Asian Health Equity (CAHE).
Dr. Kim established the nonprofit organization, Asian Health Coalition in 1997 to address the unmet health needs of Asian immigrant communities and subsequently launched the University of Chicago Center for Asian Health Equity as a community-academic partnership to serve as a national platform for advancing the health of Asian American communities through community-engaged health research, training and policy/advocacy strategies. The overarching focus of Dr. Kim’s research is on generating the evidence to reduce cancer disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations by utilizing community-engaged health services research methods and accounting for the impact of social determinants of health. Her research has been centered on the rigorous development and evaluation of multi-level strategies to advance health equity and she has been broadly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Minority Health, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, the Agency for Health Research and Quality as well as numerous foundations including the American Cancer Society, and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation.
As Vice Provost for Research, Dr. Kim collaborates with divisions, schools, centers and institutes across the University to establish strategic research priorities and implementation strategies to increase research funding and broader impact.
Dr. Kim’s leadership in advancing women in medicine is notable by several leadership positions she has held. She served on the Advisory Committee for the Office of Research in Women’s Health for the National Institute of Health, serves on the University of Chicago Women’s Leadership Council and as past dean for faculty in the biological sciences, established programs to advance careers of women through mentorship, faculty development and nominations for prestigious awards and prizes. She supported and co-created the first Women in Medicine curriculum for the Pritzker School of Medicine students to discuss and build capacity around skill-based leadership and communication. Dr. Kim has been a tireless advocate for diversity and inclusion and to ensure that women are included in opportunities that promote advancement.
In addition to her research, Kim is deeply committed to civic engagement and has dedicated significant time to advancing health through service to numerous nonprofit organizations and national boards. She was recently elected to serve on the Cook County Health and Hospital System Board of Directors, is a steering committee member for the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, received the BSD Distinguished Leader in Diversity and Inclusion Award, the John D. Arnold Mentor Award, the International Women’s Leadership award, the Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Award and the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Cancer Prevention Laurel for Increasing Health Equity through Innovation.