Dr. Cheryl Bettigole served as the Health Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia from 2021-2024 and is now a Professor of Clinical Family Medicine & Community Health at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment as a Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. At Penn, she is working on developing collaborative strategies to prevent early deaths in West and Southwest Philadelphia. As commissioner, she oversaw the development of a five-year strategic plan that included centering equity in the department’s work, improving access to primary care, and preparing for future public health emergencies.
Dr. Bettigole led the health department’s efforts to respond to multiple mass displaced person events, including Afghan and Ukrainian evacuees and migrants bussed from the southern border, collaborating with local, state, and federal partners to create new models of care for migrant populations. She worked with the Board of Health and the Air Pollution Control Board along with community leaders to pass innovative public health policies including a groundbreaking air toxics regulation. She is a board-certified family physician and previously served as the Health Department’s Director of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, as Chief Medical Officer of a federally qualified community/migrant health center, and as a family physician and clinical director with Philadelphia’s City Health Centers. She is also a Past President of the National Physicians Alliance (now part of Doctors for America), where she helped develop physician teams focused on gun violence prevention and drug safety and pricing, while continuing the organization’s work on access to high quality affordable health care.
