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David Ansell        

Senior Vice President for Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center

David Ansell, MD, MPH is the Michael E Kelly Presidential Professor of Internal Medicine and Senior Vice President/Associate Provost for Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He is a 1978 graduate of SUNY Upstate Medical College.

He did his medical training at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He spent 13 years at Cook County as an attending physician and ultimately was appointed Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Cook County Hospital.

From 1995 to 2005 he was Chairman of Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai Chicago. He was recruited to Rush University Medical Center as its inaugural Chief Medical Officer in 2005, a position he held until 2015.

His research and advocacy has been focused on eliminating health inequities. In 2011 he published a memoir of his times at County Hospital, "County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital." His latest book, "The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills," was published in 2017.

Speech Topics


Health Equity: The Next Five Years

Margin or Mission?: Leading Health Equity in An Era of Diminished Margins

Leading for Health Equity

Closing health gaps: New leadership competencies

Health Equity: The next rung in the quality and safety ladder

The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills

The problem of racial health inequalities have been present since the beginning of the United States. The intersection of COVID 19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement highlighted these longstanding racial health inequities. Yes, 53% of the nation in a recent survey do not believe that racism is a big problem, in the US. In this talk we will explore the issue of racism and health. We will make the case that racism is a serious problem that we should care about if we are serious about eliminating healthcare inequities. Examples of solutions will be discussed.

Learning Objectives: 1) understand the legacy of racism and other forms of exclusion on health outcomes 2) be able to name how these inequities are perpetuated today in health outcomes 3) Understand the three ways health care professionals can make a difference

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