Dr. John R. Lumpkin

Healthcare executive Dr. John R. Lumpkin was born on July 28, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois to Beatrice Shapiro Lumpkin and Frank Lumpkin. In 1969, Lumpkin attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Lumpkin received his B.M.Sc. degree in general biology in 1973 and his M.D. degree in 1975 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Lumpkin also earned his M.P.H. degree in health administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1985.

After receiving his M.D. degree, Lumpkin completed his internship in anesthesia in 1975 and his residency in emergency medicine in 1978 at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, making him the first African American emergency medicine resident in the United States. Lumpkin joined the University of Chicago Hospitals as an emergency medicine faculty member in 1978. In 1985, Lumpkin worked as an associate director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, where he became the agency’s first African American director in 1990. He then served as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health for over twelve years from 1990 to 2003. During this period, Lumpkin also worked as the president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. After leaving the Illinois Department of Public Health, Lumpkin joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey as senior vice president in 2003, a role he held for sixteen years before, in 2019, becoming the president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. At Blue Shield Blue Cross North Carolina, Lumpkin also held the positions of vice president of drivers of health strategy and executive strategic counselor of corporate social responsibility. In addition, Lumpkin taught at numerous educational institutions including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois’s School of Public health.

In 1996, Lumpkin became the chairman of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics. Lumpkin also served as a member of the American Heart Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Medical Association, and the National Medical Association.

Lumpkin received numerous awards and honors including the Alan Donaldson Memorial Award from the University of Illinois School of Public Health in 1986, a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois Chicago in 1997, the Jonas Salk Health Leadership Award from the Chicago March of Dimes in 1998, the Arthur McCormack Excellence and Dedication in Public Health Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in 1999, the Council Meritorious Service Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians in 2000, the Henrietta Herbolsheimer, M.D. Public Service Award from the Chicago Medical Society in 2003, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the State of Illinois Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council in 2015, and a Distinguished Medical Alumni Award from Northwestern University in 2020.

Dr. John R. Lumpkin was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 22, 2023, and April 11, 2024.