Andrea D. Willis, MD, MPH '99, FAAP

Dr. Andrea D. Willis is Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, which has more than 6,000 employees and serves more than 3.5 million members in the state and across the country. In this role, Willis guides BlueCross’ clinical processes that are central to improving the health and well-being of our members.

She oversees Total Health Management and Pharmacy Management and is responsible for achieving and maintaining clinical quality excellence, optimizing member care and medical management functions, oversight of clinical risk management and collaborating with the provider community. Willis serves as the clinical face of the organization with customers, providers, regulators and other stakeholders, as well as our employees and Board of Directors.

Prior to joining BlueCross, Willis was director of CoverKids and was responsible for developing Tennessee’s federally approved State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). She also previously served as deputy commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Health.

Willis earned a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Doctor of Medicine from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Willis is a fellow with the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 2018, she was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of 2018’s Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare. She was named as one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives for 2019. She was chosen by the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association to receive its Distinguished Alumna Award in 2019. She served as Chief Marshal for the Bloomberg School of Public Health Convocation in 2020. She was named one of the 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives by Modern Healthcare in 2019. Additional honors include being named as one of 50 Great African Americans in Healthcare to Know in 2018, one of the 68 African American Leaders in Healthcare in 2019, and one of the 70 African American Leaders in Healthcare to Know In 2020 all by Becker’s Hospital Review. She testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 17, 2020, regarding telehealth utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has one son, Cameron “Cam” Willis who is a soon to be graduate of New York University.