Joan Briller, MD
Dr. Joan Briller, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, has been named one of Crain’s Notable Women in Health Care. Crain’s list of Notable Women in Health Care spotlights 50 accomplished professionals from different corners of the field. There are executives at top teaching hospitals as well as prominent researchers making strides in attacking cancer, heart disease, infertility, allergies and skin disease. Also represented are senior administrators of community hospitals, practice groups and clinics. A number are focused on efficiency to reduce costs and improve affordability. Many serve patients on Medicaid or without insurance and grapple with ways to improve access and quality for the disadvantaged.
This Notables group also includes city and state regulators and executives at insurers, industry associations and accrediting organizations. Some are involved in marketing and fundraising. Still others work in the pharmaceutical industry or are pioneering new ways of conducting clinical trials for drugs. The common denominator: These women went into health care to help people and have staked out paths to make an impact.
Dr. Joan Briller directs the Heart Disease in Women program at UIC, which helps underserved and underinsured minority patients. She is an expert in women’s cardiac disease with a focus on pregnancy-associated heart disease, and her program has evaluated more than 1,000 women with this affliction. Her efforts influenced the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology to address the connection between pregnancy and heart disease. As a member of the Illinois Maternal Mortality committee, she has joined Illinois’ efforts to reduce maternal cardiovascular deaths. She has presented on this topic locally, regionally and internationally. Briller has chaired the Women in Medicine task force at the University of Illinois, which worked to increase developmental opportunities for women in academic medicine, remove implicit bias and promote mentorship.
