Cheryl Prelow, DrPH

Cheryl Prelow, DrPH, is a healthcare operations executive who brings calm command, strategic rigor, and measurable discipline to complex clinical and business ecosystems. Across her career, she has scaled organizations, expanded access, strengthened compliance, and aligned people, systems, and resources around sustainable performance. Her leadership integrates public health expertise, operational transformation, financial stewardship, and community partnership with clarity, purpose, and impact.

Cheryl Prelow, DrPH, is a healthcare operations executive known for bringing calm command, strategic rigor, and measurable discipline to complex clinical and business ecosystems. She has directed enterprise operations for a $120M healthcare organization with 200+ employees across seven clinical, pharmacy, and service sites, overseeing 75–100 staff across HR, IT, clinical operations, compliance, quality improvement, pharmacy operations, and facilities. Her operating signature is clear: stabilize the system, align leaders around measurable priorities, and convert mission into access, growth, and sustainable performance—including increasing annual patients served from 1,627 to more than 7,000 and helping grow operating revenues from $37M to $120M.

Her leadership depth is especially evident in environments where clinical excellence, regulatory compliance, workforce trust, and financial stewardship must advance together. As COO of Prism Health North Texas, she unified clinical and administrative teams to redesign patient access, integrate care coordination across medical, behavioral health, case management, research, and specialty services, and embed new workflows into an enterprise electronic health record. She launched compliant pharmacy operations and executive oversight of the 340B Drug Pricing Program, expanded service lines into behavioral health and primary care, strengthened HIPAA, Medicare, Medicaid, and federal program compliance, and improved Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program audit performance from 7% to 95%.

Dr. Prelow’s foundation combines a Doctor of Public Health, a Master of Healthcare Administration, and enterprise health system experience spanning community health planning, access-to-care transformation, board governance, and cross-sector partnership. Dr. Prelow has been appointed to the Commission on Aging for the City of Grand Prairie, Texas and serves as the Board President of Provide, Inc., and Public Policy Chair for the National Association of Health Services Executives Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter. She is also a fellow with Creating Healthier Communities, Health Research & Educational Trust. Across her career, she has built sustainable delivery models that improve care access, strengthen accountability, and position healthcare organizations to grow with discipline and purpose.

Away from work, Dr. Prelow finds joy in the things that help her slow down and stay grounded. She enjoys working out, taking long reflective walks, experimenting in the kitchen, and getting lost in a good book. As the mother of twin girls, family is at the heart of her life. She treasures time with family and friends, traveling, and giving back through community volunteer work. Her passion for equity and justice extends beyond healthcare leadership, inspiring her to support organizations that contribute to stronger, more connected communities.