Effective Jan. 6, Catina Latham, PhD, will become UChicago Medicine's senior vice president for community health transformation and chief equity officer.
Brenda Battle, who currently serves in the role, is retiring at the end of this year, according to a Nov. 12 news release from UChicago Medicine. Ms. Battle has spent 12 years with the academic health system, and participated in a nationwide search to appoint her successor.
Dr. Latham's appointment marks her return to UChicago Medicine, where she previously served as executive director of community benefit programs and evaluation from 2017 to 2020. In that position, she worked with various community health programs to improve outcomes for underserved populations on Chicago's South Side.
Most recently, Dr. Latham was director of the healthcare team at the U.S. Government Accountability Office's Chicago Field Office, where she led policy evaluations and provided recommendations to improve Medicaid programs.
"Catina brings with her a robust background in public health policy evaluation and management, along with a strong record of leveraging data and community collaboration to identify and address community health needs," Tom Jackiewicz, president of the University of Chicago Health System, said in a news release. "We are pleased she is returning to UChicago Medicine to build on Brenda's and the team's work to drive health outcomes in the communities we serve."