Stephanie A. Whyte has joined Chicago Public Schools as its first ever Chief Health Officer. A board-certified pediatrician, she oversees student health and wellness policy and programming for the district with the goal of improving student achievement by removing health-related barriers.

Whyte, who received her bachelor’s degree in biology from IWU, will collaborate with the Chicago Department of Public Health on the “Healthy Schools” component of the citywide “Healthy Chicago” initiatives.  “I am honored to serve in a capacity that will focus on and promote the indisputable link between healthy students and schools and academic achievement,” Whyte said. “I look forward to working with the leadership team to positively impact student health and increase achievement in the classroom.”

Prior to this role, Whyte served as the Medical Director for a not-for-profit organization, the Mobile CARE Foundation, which used mobile medical units to deliver asthma care and education to hundreds of students each year at dozens of schools and Head Start sites across the city.

Whyte received her degree as a medical doctor from Fitch University of Health Science/The Chicago Medical School in 1996. She completed a residency in pediatrics at Louisiana State University Medical Center in 1999 and earned her master’s degree in business administration for public and not-for-profit management in 2009 from St. Xavier University in Chicago.