A native Chicagoan, Mr. Harrington has worked in the fields of education, social services, mental health, healthcare and public health. During his career, he has worked at 2 Academic Medical Centers, a Community Hospital, served for 6-years as an Assistant Commissioner at the Chicago Department of Public Health, and retired in 2017 as the State Health Department’s Regional Health Officer for Cook County, where he also served as an Administrative Law Judge. He established a non-profit corporation, the Mojo Group, LTD, through which he plans to build on his legacy of service. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Longevity Health Plan of Illinois, which offers an integrated health plan/care management platform designed to improve clinical outcomes and reduce unnecessary medical interventions for long-term care beneficiaries living in skilled nursing facilities in Cook, DuPage, and Lake Counties.

From September 2012 to July 2017, Mr. Harrington served as Regional Health Officer/Administrative Law Judge for the Illinois Department of Public Health. In this capacity, he was responsible for the Department’s Bellwood Regional Office, which encompasses Cook County, IL, which consists of more than 130 incorporated municipalities, 6 certified local health departments and a population of 5.2 million people, representing 41% of the State of Illinois. He served as the Director’s Liaison to the 6-certified local health department in the County and the community at large. As an Administrative Law Judge, he conducted administrative hearings involving nursing home requests to involuntarily transfer or discharge (ITD) residents. During his tenure, he conducted the Department’s first formal Quality Improvement project on the process of ITD, resulting in a 72% reduction in total number of backlog of cases, 40% increase in total number of cases processed, 67% decrease in costs of wages to process a case, and a 33% decrease in costs of postage per month.

Prior to this, he served as an Assistant Commissioner for the city of Chicago Department of Public Health. In this capacity he accomplished the following:

  • Served as a Departmental liaison for an $11.5 million CDC funded Chicago Tobacco Prevention Project awarded to the Respiratory Health Association and a $5.8 million obesity prevention grant awarded to the Consortium to Lower obesity on Chicago Children. 
  • Was a Co-investigator for the CDC funded Center of Excellence in the Elimination of Disparities (CEED) based at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
  • Provided leadership in the introduction and passage of a resolution by the Chicago Board of Health (2009 and 2011) which established new rules focused on nutrition, physical activity and TV viewing in the city’s licensed day care centers 
  • Departmental lead for the city’s Inter-Departmental Task Force on Childhood Obesity which in 2011 was selected by the National Association of City and County Health Organizations (NACCHO) as a Model Practice
  • Developed the RFP and negotiated the funding for the development of PlayStreets (an initiative that provides children and adults with, safe, supervised spaces to enjoy outdoor activities, such as sports, games and dancing on a consistent, regular basis)

Prior to this he was a Project Director in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Rush University Medical Center for 10 years and while there oversaw its involvement in the Women’s Health Initiative Study and the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial. 

Mr. Harrington is a graduate of Chicago State University (1975), a Fellow of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s International Center for Health Leadership Development (1998-2000), and holds a Certificate of Graduate Study in Health Care Ethics from Rush University Medical Center (2004). He is a participant in the 4th International Course on Migration and Health and the 67th Informative Day of Institute of Mexicans Abroad (June 29-July 3, 2009) in Puebla, Mexico.