About Us

Welcome to the Office of Health Literacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago under the leadership of Paula Allen-Meares, Chancellor Emerita.  Together with county, state and global entities, it strives to:

• Reduce health disparities, promote health equity and prevent chronic illnesses in socioeconomically diverse communities.
• Educate students and healthcare providers in literacy- and wellness-promoting strategies.
• Recruit next-generation healthcare workers from diverse backgrounds.

This office is charged to develop formal and informal partnerships with community-based healthcare providers and relevant entities; work with UIC’s health science colleges, Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Urban Health Program, Mile Square Health Center, Department of Medicine Urban Global Health Program, Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships, to share evidence-based health literacy knowledge and educate students and healthcare professionals; create the Department of Medicine Health Literacy Lecture Series; and engage Department of Medicine Diversity and Inclusion Task Force and Women’s Task Force efforts to foster recruitment and career development of faculty and healthcare workers.

Its areas of focus include:

• Sharing innovations and technological approaches that promote health literacy and illness management.
• Addressing multiple health and disease types including but not limited to diabetes, cancer, heart and liver failure, HIV/AIDS, hypertension, gastroenterology, obesity, asthma and genetics.
• Collaborating on research with local, state, federal, global, and non-governmental partners. and working with venues to translate practices that evolve from research.
• Participating in, supporting, and convening interdisciplinary health interest groups to examine healthcare literacy, prevention, and community engagement in economically challenged ethnic/racial communities.
• Creating a lecture series (and perhaps a speakers’ bureau) on health risks that leverage our strengths, and on which communities can draw.

For recommended materials and resources on Health Literacy, see the National Academy of Medicine’s website at https://nam.edu/.

We look forward working with you.