Dr. Christina Wells is an Associate Professor of Clinical Family Medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is board certified in family, lifestyle, and obesity medicine. She specializes in both preventive health services and management of chronic diseases, with an emphasis on lifestyle medicine. She also has additional training in HIV, addiction, and mental health. She graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 2006. Dr. Wells has a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Nutrition and Wellness and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management. She currently provides patient care at the Mile Square Health Center in Cicero, Illinois and has worked at a Federally Qualified Health Center for the past 15 years where she cares for underserved and vulnerable populations.

In addition to her clinical work in underserved communities, she volunteers time in community outreach, including organizing community health fairs and other health education events. Over the past few years she has been able to obtain multiple grants to provide lifestyle programs for chronic disease and mental health self-management in historically marginalized communities.

Dr. Wells has a passion for medical student education and serves in various academic roles including as the college-wide Director of the Medical Colloquia course and Assistant Theme Leader for the Health, Illness, and Society Theme at the University of Illinois College of Medicine (COM) where she oversees medical student curriculum across three campuses. She is also the Assistant Director for the Patient Centered Medicine Scholars Program in the Family and Community Medicine Department where she leads students in outreach to unhoused populations and hosts an introduction to patient-centered care that begins in the early years of medical school prior to the start of formal clinical rotations and extends through medical school completion. She is also the co-chair of the Policy Committee for the College of Medicine and oversees writing of new policies and revisions/updates to existing policies. Over the past year she assisted students in forming  the College’s first ever student lifestyle medicine interest group.

She is actively involved in the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IAFP) and serves as board member, treasurer, and leader of the lifestyle medicine member interest group. She has been an active member and consistently involved in advocacy around primary care issues, engaging at both the local and federal governmental levels. In 2022 she received the IAFP’s President’s Award due to her service in the organization.

Over the past few years, Dr. Wells has been active as a speaker addressing public health issues. She developed podcasts and participated in boot camps discussing disparities in COVID and COVID immunizations. She has also been actively presenting lifestyle medicine lectures for a variety of professional audiences, with a focus on the use of lifestyle medicine to address health disparities in communities of color.