The Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force today announced the hiring of its first-ever executive director.

Marie Rule Gilliam has more than 15 years of experience, and has held leadership positions at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Dentistry and School of Public Health, and the Chicago Asthma Consortium.

Gilliam will lead the agency’s efforts to reduce breast cancer mortality rates between black and white women. In 2007, the task force released findings showing that black women in Chicago are more likely to die of breast cancer than white women by a rate of two-thirds. Lack of access, education and more contribute to the statistics.

Gilliam has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, and a master’s degree in health services administration from the University of Michigan.