Dr. Monica Peek is an Associate Professor in the Section of General Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago, where she provides clinical care, teaches and conducts health services research in the area of health disparities. She is the Associate Director of the Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research, where she heads the Health Disparities and Community-Based Participatory Research Core. Dr. Peek is the Director of Research at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, and the Executive Medical Director of Community Health Innovation for the University of Chicago Medicine. She is the Co-Director of the National Program Office for Bridging the Gap: Reducing Disparities in Diabetes Care, whose goal is to support the integration of medical and social needs for patients with diabetes.

She has authored over 90 peer-reviewed research papers and publications and has served as the principal investigator of grants from NIH/NIDDK, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Merck Foundation to improve patient/provider communication, shared decision-making, clinical ethics and health outcomes among racial/ethnic minorities and other vulnerable populations.  Dr. Peek was named one of the “Top 40 under 40” in Chicago by Crain’s Business Magazine and has been ranked among Chicago’s Top Female Physicians. Her work has been featured in national media outlets such as NPR, TIME magazine, ESSENCE magazine, CNN, the Melissa Harris Perry show, and The Huffington Post.

Dr. Peek is a current member of the editorial board for the journal Health Services Research and a recent member of the National Advisory Council (NAC) for the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) and the National Council for the Society of General Internal Medicine. She received her M.D. and M.P.H. from The Johns Hopkins University and her M.S. from the University of Chicago.  

This lecture was made possible by the generous donation of the Darlene Cain Memorial Care Fund and was hosted by OHSU's Harold Schnitzer Diabetes Health Center.