Dr. Holly Novak

Class of 1972 Daughter of OTHS Hall of Fame Football coach Bill Novak and Bernadine Novak. Holly attended IVCC, the University of Illinois, and finished 5th in her class at Southern Illinois School of Medicine. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine with over 40 years of clinical experience. Early in her medical career she founded a cardiac catheterization laboratory and open-heart surgery program. A community hospital for which she designed and developed a cardiac surgery program was named among the top 100 Cardiac Hospitals in the United States. She has served in multiple community hospital leadership roles, including Chief of Staff. Dr. Novak developed a Rural Health Initiative with the Illinois Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, and also designed and developed a community screening program for cardiovascular disease with a community hospital that screened 12,000 residents of McClean County, Illinois. She established and developed a cardiac practice that eventually included 10 physicians. She has been affiliated with 24 hospitals in Illinois, and has been a speaker at numerous health fairs and symposiums. Dr. Holly Novak was honored as Illinois Valley Community College’s Distinguished Alumnus in 2022.