Michelle Obama to work part time during campaign

Michelle Obama, who has served since March 2005 as Vice President for Community and External Relations at the University Medical Center, moved from full-time to part-time as of Monday, Feb. 5, in order to accommodate the anticipated demands of her husband Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign.

She will remain the point person for the community and government affairs committee of the University Medical Center board, and she will continue to work on ways to increase the extent, depth, quality and nature of the Medical Center’s relationships with the surrounding community.

This ongoing effort includes enhancing volunteer programs, increasing community participation and outreach by Medical Center staff, encouraging greater engagement of physicians in community-based health education and advancing the Adopt-a-School initiative.

Obama also will continue her role in the NIH-funded South Side Health Collaborative, which finds “medical homes” for Chicago residents who live on the South Side and who lack ready access to primary care.