Allison Arwady, MD, MPH

Allison Arwady, MD, MPH, is the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). She was at CDPH for four years in the role of Chief Medical Officer before being nominated for Commissioner in 2019. As Chief Medical Officer, she oversaw the disease control, environmental health, emergency preparedness, and behavioral health divisions. She has also worked on disease outbreaks, immunization promotion, tuberculosis response, substance misuse, and more. Prior to CDPH, Dr. Arwady worked for the CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer based at the Illinois Department of Public Health.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and her master’s degree in public health from Columbia University. She completed medical school and clinical training at Yale University. She is a board-certified internal medicine physician and pediatrician, and she continues to see primary care patients as a volunteer at Chicago’s largest free clinic.