Medical Director of Cermak Health Services Opioid Treatment Program
Cook County Health/Cermak Health Services of Cook County
Dr Patrick Ennis, MD, MPH, FAAFP, FASAM is an attending physician at Cermak Health Services of Cook County, the division of Cook County Health that provides health care services to the detained individuals of the Cook County (IL) Jail. He is also the medical director of the Cermak Opioid Treatment Program (OTP), the only licensed and accredited OTP in a jail in the state of Illinois. At Cermak, Dr. Ennis provides addiction care as well as primary care. He has a particular passion for the care of gender and sexual minorities and is Cermak’s physician champion for the transgender and gender non-conforming detainees at Cook County Jail. Moreover, he has been a physician champion for PrEP access within the jail.
Having been educated in the Jesuit tradition during high school and university, he has embodied the Jesuit mottos of “cura personalis,” or care of the entire person, as well as being a “Man for Others.” As such his practice is limited to care of the most marginalized of society and he advocates for them through his position on the Cook County Health Ethics Committee. In addition, he has led efforts to create a consistent care coordination process between Stroger Hospital and Cermak to ensure that no gaps in care occur and that detained patients receive excellence in their health care. He sits as the medical representative on the Interagency Accommodation Committee between Cermak and Cook County Department of Corrections where he is a driving force behind helping Cook County Jail to be on the vanguard of gender minority policy within jails nationwide. Moreover, he is a site investigator for a retrospective study between Cook County Health and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office on substance use related deaths.
Dr Ennis received his bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology with a minor in bioethics from Loyola University Chicago. He received his medical degree from New York Medical College. Dr. Ennis completed his training in family medicine at West Suburban Medical Center Family Medicine Residency. He is board-certified in both Family Medicine and Addiction Medicine and recently was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He is a Certified Correctional Health Care Provider from the National Commission on Correction Health Care. Dr. Ennis recently completed his Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Health Policy and Administration at the University of Illinois – Chicago.