Omar Lateef, DO, FACP
Omar Lateef, DO, FACP
President and CEO Rush University System of Health, Rush University System of Health
Dr. Omar Lateef serves as president and CEO of Rush University System for Health and Rush University Medical Center. He has been recognized internationally as a health care visionary, leader and practitioner.
Under his leadership, Rush has set the nation’s standard in health care quality and safety, modeled excellence in clinical leadership regionally and nationally, and maintained its deep and long-standing commitment to health equity. Rush leaders, along with others across the nation, educate the world’s top health care professionals. Rush believes in serving its patients and communities by addressing root causes of disease through strong partnerships and innovative research.
All three Rush hospitals repeatedly have received high marks for quality and patient experience from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Vizient has ranked Rush University Medical Center No. 6 among 107 academic medical centers for quality and accountability in 2025. The medical center has been ranked by Vizient in the top 10 for 13 consecutive years. The medical center has earned a spot on the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll six consecutive times, and in 2024, Newsweek ranked Rush University Medical Center No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 98 in the world.
STAT News named Lateef one of 50 leaders shaping headlines on their 2025 STATUS List. Lateef is the only president and CEO of an academic medical center to appear on the wide-ranging list of health care industry influencers. He earned the honor following an in-depth report about Rush’s commitment to health equity and innovative approach.
Lateef serves as a panelist and keynote speaker at a number of top health care conferences, including recent appearances at the Milken Institute 28th Annual Global Conference, 2025 Health Evolution Summit and AHIP.
Rush provides high-quality health care, no matter where patients live or their ability to pay, and its health equity initiatives have received national attention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rush was recognized as a model of excellence by the president of the U.S., the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, the governor of Illinois and the mayor of Chicago.
Rush’s commitment to addressing the social determinants of health has led to the development of initiatives in education, workforce development, healthy food, access to care and several partnerships to help to achieve health equity for our community.
Lateef was appointed as president and CEO of Rush University Medical Center in May 2019, and then took on the role of president of Rush in 2021 and became CEO of the system in 2022.
