How cities can have an impact on healthier food options
Nutritious food can help us live healthy lives, but poor urban populations lack access. Here's how city leaders can work on improving healthy food and diet options.
Joneigh S. Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP is a nationally recognized healthcare executive, health policy and public health expert who currently serves as the Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer for CVS Health. In this role she advances strategy, programs and policy to achieve health equity across all CVS Health lines of business. Prior to this, she served as Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan and Chief Deputy Director for Health in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, where she oversaw public health, Medicaid, behavioral health, and aging services. She was the lead strategist guiding Michigan’s COVID-19 response and in 2021, was appointed by President Biden to the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
Dr. Khaldun has spearheaded the design and implementation of several system-changing projects at the intersection of public health and clinical medicine. Prior to her role in the State of Michigan, she was appointed by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to lead the rebuilding of the Detroit Health Department. There, her accomplishments include building the city's opioid overdose response efforts; spearheading programs to address infant mortality and teen pregnancy during a time when Detroit saw the lowest infant mortality rate ever recorded in history; designing and implementing a neighborhood-based lead outreach and testing program; launching Detroit's first online restaurant inspection reporting system; and successfully leading Detroit's response to the largest hepatitis A outbreak in modern U.S. history. Dr. Khaldun formerly served as Chief Medical Officer of the Baltimore City Health Department overseeing all clinical operations and worked in the Obama-Biden Administration's Office of Health Reform, supporting implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Dr. Khaldun has received multiple awards and recognitions, including 40 under 40 Leader in Minority Health by the National Minority Quality Forum; 40 Under 40 Leader in Public Health by the de Beaumont Foundation; George Washington University Monumental Alumni Award; 2020 Crain's Detroit Newsmaker of the Year; Detroit News 2021 Michiganian of the Year; a 2022 USA Today Woman of the Year; and an Aspen Institute Health Innovator Fellow. She is a board-certified practicing emergency medicine physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.