When Keith Waterbrook leaves the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center to take over as executive director of Howard Brown Health Center next month, he'll arrive with a base of knowledge about Chicago gleaned from his years of growing up here and from the advice given by his boss, himself a former Chicagoan.
"I have a good prepping from Frank Oldham," Waterbrook said. "I will follow his suggestions."
Oldham was director of the Chicago Department of Public Health's HIV/STD/AIDS division until he left earlier this year to become managing director of the L.A. Center. Waterbrook has served in L.A. for six years as director of Health and Mental Health. While there, he established the center's thriving primary care program, Lambda Medical Group.
Waterbrook is happily leaving the warm climes of Los Angeles for the four seasons of Chicago "because it was a great job. That's the primary reason. Howard Brown is one of the big three gay and lesbian health centers ( nationally ) ," he said.
"Howard Brown Health Center has a big jumpstart on everybody," he added, calling the center a "pioneer in gay and lesbian primary healthcare."
Waterbrook spent a day at Howard Brown last week, meeting staff and touring the facilities. He will officially begin work sometime during the first week of July.
As for his preliminary plans for HBHC, he said, "It's a matter of building on strengths that are already here. I feel very strongly about lesbian health. ( We have to ) look into expanding services for the whole community. ... That's key."
"Working for a gay and lesbian organization makes you forget the silent majority," he said, referring to the legions of gays and lesbians who aren't out at work or to their families.
L.A.'s primary care program has strived to create a "one-class system of care," that serves the entire GLBT community regardless of socioeconomic status, income, gender, gender identity or race, he said.
The center held focus groups at some of the city's largest employers to find out what kinds of programs people wanted. He was amazed, he said, at the numbers of gay and lesbian employees at companies such as Lucent Technologies, major utilities and Disney.
"We reach out to the entire population, and what's been gratifying to me is that we are serving everyone," including leaders from government and GLBT agencies.
Once here, he plans to reach out to Howard Brown's different funders, making connections with state, local and federal resources.
Waterbrook has spent much of his professional life in academic medicine, heading up medical centers at the University of Arizona and the University of Massachusetts before moving to L.A. He has a master of arts from the University of Chicago and a master's in health service administration from the University of Michigan.
Of all of the places he's lived, he said, "Chicago is actually one of my favorite cities in the world."
One of his only trepidations about moving is how he'll get his "huge" collection of one-of-a-kind porcelain from L.A. to Chicago. He and his partner, Thomas, are collectors and have written two books on porcelain from Limoges, France. Both books are available on Amazon.com . His wares are earthquake-proofed to the built-in shelves of his home, and he hasn't yet figured out how they'll make the journey.
That concern aside, he said, "I'm really excited ... I'm really happy to be here."