Dr. Ngozi Ezike Biography
Dr. Ngozi Ezike is a board-certified internist and pediatrician in Chicago, Illinois. She is the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. She previously served as medical director at the Juvenile Detention Center, the largest juvenile detention facility in Cook country. She is also an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Rush University.
She is a national policy advisor on juvenile correctional health topics and has presented at numerous local and national conferences for medical professionals and youth audiences alike.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Age
Ngozi is 47 years old as of 2020.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Nationality
She is an American national.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Ethnicity
She belongs to the African race.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Education
Dr. Ngozi graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a medical degree. She also has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University. She also holds a management certificate from Harvard Business School and is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Rush University.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Parents
Ezike has managed to keep her family from the limelight but she has revealed that they are Nigerian immigrants. Her father died in February 2020.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Husband
Ezike is married although the name of her husband is unknown.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike Children
She is a mother to four children.
Missed my sweeties during challenging months of study for CORe @HarvardHBX but all smiles now#missionaccomplished pic.twitter.com/kom7ebp6GM
— N. Ogbunamiri Ezike (@DocNgozi) November 10, 2015
Dr. Ngozi Ezike CCDPH
Ngozi served for more than 15 years in Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH). She began her career as an attending physician at Cook County Health.
In 2007 she became a medical director at Austin Health Center where she actively engaged with the community on a variety of health initiatives. She has delivered inpatient care at Stroger Hospital as well as primary and preventive care in community and school-based clinics.
In 2009 she became the medical director of Cermak Health Services at Juvenile Temporary Detention Center of Cook County, the largest single site juvenile detention facility in the country. She was instrumental in creating and implementing the facility’s health policies as the first step of many for coming out of federal receivership and achieving national accreditation for the detention center. As part of Healthy JTDC 2020, she partnered with profit and non-profit organizations to
sponsor the center’s first running program which culminated in a 3K/5K run event for the detained youth.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike IDPH
In February 2019 Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker appointed Dr. Ezike as Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
Cook County Health CEO Dr. John Jay Shannon said in a statement that as a community-based physician, Ezike “took special interest in obesity, diabetes and breastfeeding—three public health issues she will be able to advocate for on a larger scale in her new role as the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. On behalf of Cook County Health and the many patients she has served, we are immensely proud and look forward to working with Dr. Ezike in her new capacity.”
Dr. Ngozi Ezike COVID
As the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health Ezike gives updates about COVID-19 in Illinois.
Dr Ngozi Ezike Salary
Her actual salary as the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health is unknown but according to salary.bettergov.org she earned $206,626 in 2018 as an Attending Physician VIII for Jtdc – Health Services.
Dr Ngozi Ezike Resigns
On March 1, 2022 Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that Dr. Ngozi Ezike will step down as Illinois Department of Public Health Director later in the month after serving three years in the position. Pritzker proclaimed Tuesday Dr. Ngozi Ezike Day in Illinois, acknowledging her role in the state’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
“No number of sleepless nights and endless days could wear down her commitment to think first and foremost of Illinois’ most vulnerable. I ran for office, I ran for office. She did not. But throughout the crisis, she has stood beside me every step of the way. I am not putting it lightly when I say that she has had one of the hardest jobs in the world. There is something particularly heroic about the service of an extraordinary individual who did not seek greatness, but found it anyway.”
He added that he loathe to accept the news of Ezike’s departure, but added that “she will go down in the Illinois history books as a woman who saved lives and changed our state for the better.”
Ezike in her statement said it has been an honor to serve the Illinois people. “It has been a great honor serving the people of Illinois as the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Being the state’s top doc during a global pandemic has been challenging to say the least, but it’s been an amazing journey to work with so many great public health professionals and leaders from all sectors.”