The University of Chicago Medicine and AdventHealth have closed on a transaction to form a joint venture called Sandra Valaitis, MD, has been appointed UChicago Medicine’s Chief Physician for the affiliation. Valaitis currently serves as UChicago Medicine’s Section Chief of Gynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery and Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs.

In her new position, she will be responsible for physician collaboration, clinical integration and program development for the new joint venture. She will be working closely with Bela Nand, MD, Chief Medical Officer at UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale and La Grange, who will lead the clinical integration efforts for the AdventHealth Great Lakes Region facilities.

“I am excited to work together with my colleagues at UChicago Medicine and AdventHealth to ensure we’re building bridges between organizations that will enable us to better connect care for patients — whether they’re seeing their long-time family doctor in the western suburbs or a sub-specialist in Hyde Park,” said Valaitis.

An expanding health system

The affiliation is the latest move for UChicago Medicine, an integrated academic health system that includes hospitals, outpatient clinics and physician practices throughout Chicagoland as well as in the suburbs and Northwest Indiana. UChicago Medicine has been working for many years on developing and strengthening a healthcare ecosystem for communities on the South Side and beyond. That includes plans to build Chicago’s first freestanding comprehensive cancer facility on its medical campus on the South Side, where cancer is the second-leading cause of death. It’s also building a 130,000-square-foot multispecialty ambulatory center in Crown Point to serve the growing population in Northwest Indiana. It is also collaborating with 12 community providers on the