Dr. Ngozi Ezike, ex-public health chief behind Illinois' COVID-19 response, fined $150K for ethics violation

The doctor who led Illinois through the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic now faces a $150,000 state fine for the path she took from her government job to the private sector.

Former Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike acknowledged violating the state’s “revolving door” ethics law after she resigned to become CEO of the Sinai Chicago health system in 2022, though she said she didn’t “knowingly or intentionally” break the rules.

That’s according to a report released Friday by the state Executive Ethics Commission, which dinged Ezike because Sinai Chicago had contracts with the health department totaling $4.2 million in the year before she left her government post.

Under the “revolving door” law, high-ranking state employees are supposed to wait a year before taking a job from entities that held contracts worth $25,000 or more with the state agency overseen by the employee during the year leading up to their departure.

Ezike stepped down as the state’s top doctor in March 2022, two years after she became the face of Illinois’ pandemic response alongside Gov. JB Pritzker during 161 daily televised briefings in which she provided bilingual advice, reassurance and hard truths.

By June 2022, she was on the payroll at Sinai Chicago, which had six separate contracts with the health department in the year before Ezike gave up her $178,000-per-year job atop that state agency.

The Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General filed a complaint against Ezike in October 2023, and she filed a settlement agreement with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in November 2024 acknowledging her violation and accepting a $150,000 fine, according to the commission report.

In a “mitigation statement” released with the settlement, Ezike’s attorneys said she was advised that she was in the clear before accepting the job, but even an agency ethics officer wasn’t aware that grant agreements held by Sinai were considered contracts.

“She consulted with her chief of staff; she consulted with her ethics officer; she hired private counsel. She thought she did everything right. She thought she was able to accept the job,” attorneys wrote.

In their initial complaint, the inspector general’s office called it “clear that Dr. Ezike was aware of potential revolving door issues.”

“There is no doubt that Dr. Ezike played a critical role in guiding the State through the pandemic. However, a person’s position or quality of service does not, nor should it, negate the applicability of governing rules and statutes,” officials at the watchdog agency wrote.

Ezike said in a separate statement released by an attorney that “I have always been guided by integrity, ethics and justice, and I have dedicated my career to advancing health equity, particularly in underserved communities.

“I proudly accepted a position as President of Sinai Chicago, which shares my personal mission to improve public health outcomes of those most in need. I look forward to continuing our important work with my fellow caregivers, as well as partners in the communities and beyond, to help the people we serve live better, healthier lives,” Ezike said.

“Revolving door” violators can be fined up to three times their new salary, “regardless of whether he or she participated personally and substantially” in the contracting, the law says.

Ezike accepted a base salary from Sinai of $760,000, the commission report said, suggesting she could have faced a fine of more than $2.2 million.

A Sinai Chicago spokesperson said their new CEO “relied on the advice of legal professionals as she transitioned from her former role. We are confident in Dr. Ezike's exemplary leadership and remain focused on ensuring Chicago’s most vulnerable residents have the quality health care services they deserve.”

Illinois saw lower COVID-19 death rates and higher vaccination rates compared to most other Midwest states under Ezike’s leadership.

Pritzker declared it “Dr. Ngozi Ezike Day” when he announced her departure, saying she would “go down in the Illinois history books as a woman who changed our state for the better.”

“She saved lives, many, many thousands of lives,” the governor said then. “No number of sleepless nights and endless days could wear her down, or her commitment to think first and foremost of Illinois’ most vulnerable. … I am not putting it lightly when I say that she has had one of the hardest jobs in the world.”