When Donna Thompson joined Access Community Health Network (ACCESS) as Chief Operating Officer in 1995, she was very familiar with the difficulties patients faced due to their lack of access to primary and preventive care. For more than 30 years, Donna has been on the front lines of patient care delivery. As CEO of ACCESS since 2004, Donna demonstrates daily how a focused commitment to high quality community health care can save lives, revitalize communities, and preserve the possibility of a healthy life for hundreds of thousands of patients across the Chicagoland area. Donna has led ACCESS to become one of the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) organizations in the country. 

Keeping the focus on providing solutions to health inequities, ACCESS has invested in long-term partnerships for teaching and research. ACCESS' broad partnerships enable community-based research to address health disparities and to share those best practices within the community. One result is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded ACCESS Center for Discovery and Learning building in Chicago's Englewood community alongside a community health center and an integrative services center.

On Mother's Day in 2007, Donna launched Pin-A-Sister/Examinate Comadre, bringing together members of predominantly African-American and Hispanic congregations to recognize breast cancer survivors and provide education around the importance of breast health and regular preventive screenings. To date, this faith-based breast cancer awareness campaign has reached more than one million people in churches, community organizations and correctional centers during its signature events surrounding Mother's Day, and has touched more than four million individuals through media outreach efforts nationally and internationally.

Appointments and acknowledgements:

Donna received her BSN from DePaul University in 1986, and her Masters of Nursing Administration in 1989. She was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow in 2003. She was recognized as one of Chicago United's 2007 Business Leaders of Color. She is a co-founder of the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force. She is also a 2010 graduate of the Kellogg School of Management's CEO Perspectives program. She received the National Medical Fellowship Leadership in Healthcare Award in 2015.

In addition to being a DePaul University Board Trustee and former Board Chair of The Chicago Network, Donna is on the Boards of Directors of the DuPage Health Coalition (DuPage County, IL); the National Public Housing Museum; and Children's Home & Aid.