Raed was the founder of the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Office of Innovation and past Director of Environmental Innovation, pioneering innovative approaches to public health, combining urban science, informatics, and community engagement to create lasting impact. As a strategic advisor to executive leadership, he played a pivotal role in shaping public health policy and implementing innovative programs by directing and coordinating large-scale, complex projects, fostering strong community partnerships, and optimizing operational efficiency, including Our Roots Chicago tree planting equity initiative, CoolChi extreme heat mitigation, and the Community Air Monitoring Network to detect neighborhood-level air pollution.
Raed was also detailed as the Public Health Technology Group Supervisor for the Health and Medical Branch of the Operations Section during the City of Chicago’s COVID-19 sustained response responsible for scaling and coordinating the development of several new tech stack applications to manage symptom surveillance, contact tracing, and vaccine management.
Raed joined Openlands’ Board in 2021 and sees Openlands’ work conserving natural resources for cleaner land, air, and water as intersecting with his career in improving public health and quality of life. He is a trained TreeKeeper and avid birder, volunteering his time for three years as a Piping Plover Monitor. He is currently working to create a natural bird habitat with the Chicago Bird Alliance as the first official Chicago Park District Natural Areas Community Steward at River Park, the same park he adopted as part of Openlands’ TreeKeeper program. He was also awarded Tree Advocate of the Year by The Morton Arboretum’s Chicago Region Trees Initiative for Our Roots Chicago.
Raed is from the southside of Chicago and currently lives in the Albany Park neighborhood. He received his B.S. in Neurobiology and Animal Physiology from Purdue University, his M.S. in Health Communication from Boston University where he also taught for five years, and a Certificate in Predictive Analytics from DePaul University. He is an active member of the American Public Health Association, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society Elected Associate, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an appointed member of the Climate Committee for the State of Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
