In the wake of Dr. Allison Arwady’s departure from the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), she should turn to the next chapter of her life knowing the deep respect and appreciation that we, along with innumerable residents of the Chicagoland region and the public health community across the country, feel for her and her team.
As Dr. Arwady’s two immediate predecessors as CDPH commissioners, we experienced our fair share of major challenges and public health emergencies: the threat of Ebola-infected travelers arriving in Chicago; the H1N1 influenza pandemic; numerous meningitis outbreaks; surges of opioid related overdoses; countless food-borne outbreaks; and contaminated vaping products. Each situation required staff throughout the agency to work long hours at a frantic pace on evenings and weekends, often missing time with and life events of spouses, children, elderly parents, and other loved ones for weeks and sometimes months.
