Karriem Watson

Karriem Watson

Karriem Watson is the CEO and executive director of UI Health’s Mile Square Health Center, a network of Federally Qualified Health Center clinics that serve communities across Chicago and Rockford. He also serves as the assistant vice chancellor for community based practice.

Watson’s research has focused on global and community public health, precision medicine and cancer.

He is trained as a cancer disparities researcher and has worked to ensure early detection and improve screening and cancer prevention in high-risk populations. His work has examined cancer prevention and control in rural Haiti, Cuba, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Watson was the chief engagement officer for the All of Us Research Program at the National Institutes of Health, where he led efforts to foster relationships with participants, communities, researchers and providers across the U.S. to build one of the largest, most diverse health databases for developing and discovering new therapeutics and models of care.

He has been recognized by the Chicago Urban League as an Innovator in STEM, and he has served on the board of It Takes A Village of Schools and as the former board chair of Community Campus Partnerships for Health.