Deborah Fullerton is the Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at AMITA Health, an integrated health system serving the greater Chicago market, city and suburbs, as well as down to Kankakee.  AMITA Health has 19,456 employees, 19 hospitals with 4,257 beds, 230 sites of outpatient care, 700 employed providers, 7,000 affiliated providers, a Medicare ACO ranked 3rd in quality in the United States, a clinically integrated network with more than 4,000 providers and a management services organization.  AMITA Health is one of the largest systems in Illinois.

Deborah is a results-focused marketing executive with a progressive track record of success in the highly regulated healthcare industry and in challenging competitive markets. Prior to AMITA Health, she has orchestrated the brand development process at three academic medical centers – Duke University Health System, Loyola University Health System and Keck Medicine of University of Southern California – and built data-driven marketing departments to drive volume for healthcare services.

Recently she has focused on transforming a traditional hospital environment to a consumer-focused one, ensuring access to healthcare by enhancing the digital patient journey, and designing a customer experience program.  She has developed leadership retreats on consumerization and disruptive innovative growth, participated in building AMITA Health Check (a patient-generated health data app), and, with the CIO, has added a Digital Technology Council to evaluate innovative ideas and, when necessary, find corporate or start-up partners.

Deborah launched her career in healthcare after first learning the media ropes in the journalism.  She leveraged that media relations experience in public relations for Duke University Medical Center by exporting scientific discoveries and elevating corporate collateral. Later, she also enhanced corporate reputations through social media and thought leadership campaigns. She has experience leading web site redesigns, building CRM & PRM databases connected to lead-generation tools and linking electronic medical records via patient portals.

Deborah is a die-hard Tar Heel fan, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1985 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH)’s School of Media & Journalism.  Somewhat surprisingly for those who know college basketball rivalries, she obtained a master’s degree in business administration from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business in 1991.

In addition to watching college basketball, Deborah enjoys biking, gardening, Netflix and apps/devices that make the home work smarter.

Updated March 2019