At its annual awards dinner and meeting on Wednesday, June 8 the Institute of Medicine of Chicago (IOMC) awarded Steven Whitman, Ph.D., director of the Sinai Urban Health Institute, and the Russe Citation for Exemplary Compassion in Health Care. Trained as an epidemiologist and biostatistician, Dr. Whitman received his PhD from Yale University in 1969. He worked both in academia and public health departments before starting an urban epidemiology effort in 2000 at Mount Sinai Hospital on the west side of Chicago. There he built what would become Sinai Urban Health Institute, an organization that integrates epidemiology with community-based efforts to address health disparities. In his nomination for the Russe Citation, Dr. Whitman was noted for his successful models that address management of chronic disease issues in area minority communities: diabetes in Humboldt Park, breast cancer among African American women in Chicago, and pediatric asthma in North Lawndale. Also, he was recognized for his commitment to eliminating the social, economic, and political factors that contribute to health disparities.