University of Chicago Medicine physician Marshall Chin has been elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Chin was one of 80 new members elected to the Academy, it was announced Oct. 16. Election to the Academy is one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. It indicates that an individual has made major contributions to medicine and health care and demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.
Chin, the Richard Parrillo Family Professor of Healthcare Ethics and associate chief and director of research for the Section of General Internal Medicine, is a general internist with extensive experience caring for both the clinical and social needs of vulnerable patients with chronic disease.
“Marshall Chin is an international leader in improving care and outcomes for racial and ethnic minority patients and persons with social risk factors,” said Kenneth S. Polonsky, dean of the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and executive vice president of medical affairs.
“He has devised and implemented a series of innovative approaches to patient care with particular emphasis on the alleviation of difficult clinical, social and economic problems,” Polonsky added. “He is also a talented physician, with a lifelong commitment to improve patient care, reduce health care disparities and make the best use of available resources.”
Chin directs the NIH-funded Chicago Center for Diabetes Translation Research. He and Assoc. Prof. Monica Peek co-direct the South Side Diabetes Project, which has advanced diabetes care and outcomes through healthcare system and community interventions.
Chin also leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Finding Answers: Solving Disparities through Payment and Delivery System Reform. Through that program, he and his team created the Roadmap to Reduce Disparities, a six-step framework to help health care organizations improve minority health and foster equity.
Chin studies the patient-centered medical home—a team-based care-delivery model—in safety net clinics, and efforts to improve shared decision-making between clinicians and LGBTQ persons of color. His research has improved care in federally qualified health centers through the national Health Disparities Collaboratives.
Chin co-chairs the National Quality Forum’s Disparities Standing Committee, which works to reduce health care disparities and reform clinical performance measurement and payment. He currently serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Community Preventive Services Task Force and is a former president of the Society of General Internal Medicine.
In addition to his clinical and research roles, Chin is a teacher and award-winning mentor, committed to providing opportunities for trainees and young faculty. He is also associate director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. He joined the UChicago faculty in 1994.
With Chin’s appointment, there are now 15 current or emeritus UChicago faculty members who have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
