2023 annual dinner and presentation of our Distinguished Service Award
This year PBKACA presented this year’s Distinguished Service Award to Dr. Allison Arwady, former Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, most recently served four years as the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), leading the nation’s third-largest city’s health department, including through the COVID pandemic.
Prior to that, she was CDPH’s Chief Medical Officer, overseeing Chicago’s disease control, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and behavioral health divisions. Earlier in her career, she worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. With CDC, she worked on HIV and tuberculosis in Botswana, and international outbreak responses in Saudi Arabia (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and Liberia (Ebola). While based at the Illinois Department of Public Health, she responded to disease outbreaks across the state. She has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University, and completed medical school and clinical training at Yale University. Dr. Arwady is a board-certified internal medicine physician and pediatrician and continues to see primary care patients regularly.
Dr. Arwady described the plans, preparations, decisions and surprises in her career in public health, especially as the face of Chicago’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She emphasized the need for us to raise our voices to support public health for all.
Here are some pictures from our dinner.
