{"id":146047,"date":"2025-08-14T21:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146047\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T21:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:13:08","slug":"cook-county-public-health-head-fired-for-not-renewing-medical-license","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146047\/","title":{"rendered":"Cook County public health head fired for not renewing medical license"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former leader of Cook County\u2019s Public Health Department, who was quietly terminated late last year, has reached a settlement with the county.<\/p>\n

After more than two years on the job, Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck was fired this January after failing to renew his medical license, according to his personnel file received as part of a Tribune open records request.<\/p>\n

Hasbrouck, who said he was \u201cfully transparent\u201d about his licensure status, said the matter \u201chas been amicably resolved\u201d without filing a formal court claim.<\/p>\n

When Hasbrouck was hired in the spring of 2022, the Chief Operating Officer post was empty for nearly two years \u2014 the bulk of the pandemic \u2014 before Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Hasbrouck\u2019s hiring. Preckwinkle had let go of<\/a> the previous public health chief, Dr. Terry Mason, to the surprise of other county officials, as COVID-19 was just beginning to surge in the spring of 2020.<\/p>\n

The department enforces health regulations and monitors and responds to public health threats in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

Cook County Health set aside $100,000 to pay for a national search for Mason\u2019s replacement, and ultimately landed on Hasbrouck. He was previously director of the state\u2019s Public Health Department during Gov. Pat Quinn\u2019s administration, executive director of the National Association of County & City Health Officials and an advisor at the American Medical Association. Hasbrouck joined the department in June 2022 with an annual salary of $325,000, according to his personnel file.<\/p>\n

At the time of his hiring, records show, Hasbrouck was required to have an active medical license with the state, and volunteered to take care of it shortly after his hiring. The minimum qualifications for the COO job included having a valid physician\u2019s license, or the ability to obtain it two weeks prior to starting. Hasbrouck\u2019s May 2022 offer letter also included a clause saying he must provide proof of his position-specific credentials and documentation of his licensure.<\/p>\n

But he never followed through, according to the January 2, 2025 termination letter from Cook County Health CEO Dr. Erik Mikaitis, his direct supervisor. \u201cAs a condition of employment, you were required to obtain your medical license in the State of Illinois at time of employment. You failed to do so, and therefore, we are terminating your employment with CCH immediately,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

Cook County Health declined to comment about why the lapse became an issue years after he was hired. Preckwinkle\u2019s office similarly declined comment.<\/p>\n

According to the state\u2019s Department of Professional Regulation, Hasbrouck was first licensed locally in 2012 \u2014 when he worked for Quinn \u2014 but it lapsed in the summer of 2017. He was previously licensed in New York and Georgia, records show.<\/p>\n

Hasbrouck said in an email to the Tribune he led the department \u201cin all functions without restrictions or a valid medical license for 30 months,\u201d and noted he was approved by the state to serve as a public health administrator shortly after his appointment.<\/p>\n

According to his LinkedIn, Hasbrouck is now an adviser to Charta Health, an AI medical chart review company. In May, the county announced Hasbrouck\u2019s replacement would be Dr. Kiran Joshi, who co-led the department after Mason\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former leader of Cook County\u2019s Public Health Department, who was quietly terminated late last year, has reached…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[11438,14670,14672,14673,12320,14674,14675,14676,960,14677,14678,5404,14679,14720,14682,14683,14684,14721,14685,11612,14686,14687,9287,8413,14688,14689,14690,14691,5386,1818,14692,14693,14694,1370,14695,14696,6287,14697,14698,50,14699,14700,10886,14701,14702,11210,14703,14704,14705,14706,14707,14708,80,14709,14710,14711,14712,14713,14714,14716,14717,14718,23499,14719],"class_list":{"0":"post-146047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-arlington-heights","9":"tag-barrington","10":"tag-blue-island","11":"tag-brookfield","12":"tag-buffalo-grove","13":"tag-burbank","14":"tag-burr-ridge","15":"tag-calumet-city","16":"tag-chicago","17":"tag-chicago-heights","18":"tag-cicero","19":"tag-cook-county","20":"tag-country-club-hills","21":"tag-daily-southtown","22":"tag-des-plaines","23":"tag-dolton","24":"tag-elgin","25":"tag-elgin-courier-news","26":"tag-elmwood-park","27":"tag-evanston","28":"tag-franklin-park","29":"tag-glencoe","30":"tag-glenview","31":"tag-harvey","32":"tag-hickory-hills","33":"tag-hinsdale","34":"tag-hoffman-estates","35":"tag-hometown","36":"tag-il","37":"tag-illinois","38":"tag-la-grange","39":"tag-la-grange-park","40":"tag-lansing","41":"tag-latest-headlines","42":"tag-lincolnwood","43":"tag-markham","44":"tag-maywood","45":"tag-morton-grove","46":"tag-mount-prospect","47":"tag-news","48":"tag-niles","49":"tag-norridge","50":"tag-northbrook","51":"tag-northlake","52":"tag-oak-forest","53":"tag-oak-lawn","54":"tag-oak-park","55":"tag-orland-park","56":"tag-palatine","57":"tag-palos-heights","58":"tag-palos-hills","59":"tag-park-ridge","60":"tag-politics","61":"tag-prospect-heights","62":"tag-river-forest","63":"tag-rolling-meadows","64":"tag-rosemont","65":"tag-schaumburg","66":"tag-skokie","67":"tag-tinley-park","68":"tag-western-springs","69":"tag-wheeling","70":"tag-wilmette","71":"tag-winnetka"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}