Lisa Schencker

Lisa Schencker is a Tribune business reporter covering health care. She writes about patients, hospitals, health insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Before joining the Tribune in 2016, she worked at Modern Healthcare and at daily newspapers across the country, including the Salt Lake Tribune for seven years.

A baby is held by his mother as lead pediatric medical assistant Symatha Williams administers vaccines, including Hepatitis B , DTaP, and rotavirus at Friend Family Health Center in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, June 24, 2021. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

In a break with federal guidance, Illinois will continue recommending hepatitis B vaccine for newborns

December 17, 2025 at 3:34 p.m.

In a break with federal guidance, Illinois will continue to recommend that nearly all newborns receive hepatitis B vaccines, the state health department announced Wednesday.

Medline Industries Inc. on Nov. 1, 2018, in Waukegan. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

Medline shares surge 41% during first day of trading after $6.3B initial public offering

December 17, 2025 at 4:31 p.m.

Medline's initial public offering of stock is one of the largest of the year. The Northfield company sold about 216 million shares at $29 a piece.

Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the state health department, speaks before Gov. JB Pritzker signed Illinois House Bill 767 on Dec. 2, 2025, at the Illinois Department of Human Rights office in Chicago’s West Loop. The legislation formally establishes a process for state-level vaccine guidelines and expands pharmacy access to COVID-19 and other shots for young children across Illinois. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Illinois should recommend hepatitis B vaccines for all newborns, committee says, despite federal guidance

December 16, 2025 at 5:55 p.m.

The committee’s vote Tuesday followed a decision by a federal vaccine advisory committee earlier this month to no longer recommend hepatitis B vaccines for all newborns.

Cases of beer are displayed at a grocery store on Feb. 11, 2025, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty)

Nearly 23% of Illinois high school students say they drink, according to report

December 15, 2025 at 5:14 p.m.

Nearly 23% of Illinois high school students said they drank alcohol within the last 30 days when surveyed in 2021, according to a report released Monday.

Gov. JB Pritzker answers questions after a news conference at Navy Pier on Dec. 3, 2025. Pritzker signed a bill into law Friday taking aim at insurance reimbursement rates for behavioral health services. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Gov. JB Pritzker signs bill that aims to make it easier to find therapists who take insurance

December 12, 2025 at 5:45 p.m.

The new law, which will take full effect in January 2027, creates a formula outlining how much insurers must pay therapists for their services.

A tanning bed is cleaned between customers on April 3, 2013, at a shop in Des Plaines. (Anthony Souffle/Chicago Tribune)

Tanning bed users have nearly twice as much damage to skin cells, Northwestern study finds

December 12, 2025 at 5:15 p.m.

Use of tanning beds nearly triples the risk of developing melanoma, and it also damages the DNA of skin cells across the body, according to a study from Northwestern Medicine.

Dr. Carlos Prada high-fives Kevin Manny, of Aurora, during Manny’s study visit for a clinical trial at Lurie Children's Hospital, Dec. 9, 2025. Manny was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy when he was 7. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Couple donates $11 million to Lurie Children’s Hospital to support work in genetics and rare diseases

December 10, 2025 at 12:01 a.m.

The donation from Don and Anne Edwards aims to speed research, treatment and diagnosis for children with rare and genetic disorders.

Registered nurse and care coordinator Elizabeth Julian, right, talks with a patient during a consultation at Thresholds Centers for Mental Wellbeing in Chicago on Nov. 25, 2025. Thresholds, which serves people with serious mental health and substance use disorders in Illinois, brought the therapy insurance bill to Rep. Lindsey LaPointe. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Advocates hope newly passed bill will inspire more Illinois therapists to take private health insurance

December 9, 2025 at 7:31 a.m.

Many therapists have stopped taking insurance because of what they describe as low payment rates and administrative hoops that make it difficult to treat patients.

Dr. Robert Malone chairs a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in Atlanta, Dec. 5, 2025, to consider changes in hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants. (Ben Gray/AP)

Illinois to conduct its own review of hepatitis B vaccine recommendations made by federal committee

December 5, 2025 at 5:33 p.m.

The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices decided Friday to recommend that it be left up to parents and doctors whether to vaccinate infants right after birth if the infants'...

The Rush Cancer Center in Chicago on Dec. 16, 2021. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Rush announces major donation to help it dramatically expand clinical trials for cancer patients

December 4, 2025 at 12:28 p.m.

The donation will establish the Harold B. Smith Family Cancer Research Center at Rush within the Rush MD Anderson Cancer Center.

All Stories