When Rashad Reed was considering Health Science Administration programs in the Chicago area, he wanted to look beyond the coursework. He wanted a school that aligned with his same passion for community investment and educational equity.
“I’ve always been a huge reader of history, and I know that when ؾ was founded in 1945 there were not many institutions in this country that, frankly, would not admit people who look like me,” says Reed. “I want my professional career to uplift those underserved communities in Chicago first and foremost, and ؾ was the obvious choice for my goals.”
Since earning his bachelor’s from ؾ in 2021, Reed has gone on to earn a master’s in Public Administration from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and is currently working towards a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois Chicago. But beyond his academic success, his passion lies in community work and addressing systemic inequalities that affect the predominately Black and Latino communities on Chicago’s West and South Sides.
“My ultimate goal is to serve as a leader within the community, working alongside policymakers to strengthen public health infrastructure and bridge longstanding gaps in care,” he says. “Addressing health inequities in Chicago requires looking beyond economic disparities. Many communities continue to face barriers such as limited public transportation and a persistent mistrust of the healthcare system among populations that have been historically underserved.”
While pursuing his undergraduate studies, Reed worked as a pharmacy technician at CVS Pharmacy and RUSH University Medical Center while also serving on the Associate Board of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. In this role, he supported fundraising initiatives that financed programs assisting individuals living with HIV in accessing co-pay assistance and other resources designed to alleviate healthcare costs and improve continuity of care.
“I noticed during my time at the pharmacy that many patients who were HIV-positive would see the bill for their medication and simply walk out,” he says. “These people had full employer-provided health insurance, but the cost of these drugs was so expensive that even with insurance you would need to pay $600 for a single bottle, and that didn’t sit right with me.”
Reed attributes this continued passion for community health investment to his time at ؾ, where his professors urged him to look beyond data and health systems and instead analyze the sociological trends in health care and government. He particularly cites doctors Elizabeth Boone and La Vonne Downey, who pushed him to bring his personal perspective to health care inequities and allow it to inform his research alongside verifiable statistics.
“Dr. Boone, who served as interim president of the NAACP DuPage County Branch, really inspired me. In one of our conversations, she talked about how she always told her son to be prepared, because you never know when life will call on you to step up. That message hit home for me. It made me think about how being prepared isn’t just about opportunity, it’s about responsibility, about being ready to lead and serve when your community needs you the most.”
“Dr. Downey’s class really made me step back and think about how I wanted to position myself and what kind of impact I wanted to make,” he says. “She often talked about the idea of ‘course corrections,’ reminding us that it’s okay to pause, reflect, and adjust our path along the way. One thing she said that stuck with me was, ‘If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.’ That really pushed me to see how important it is to be involved in both policy and community work if you want to create real, lasting change.”
Today, Reed continues to put those lessons into practice as a member of the Transitions of Care Team at the University of Chicago Medicine, where he works alongside pharmacists, physicians and social workers to help patients access affordable medications and navigate the complex process of transitioning from hospital to home or long-term care. Through this role, he continues his mission of advancing health equity and ensuring that every patient, regardless of background, has the support they need to thrive.
