SIU School of Medicine exists for two reasons:
- to improve the health care education, the delivery of health care and the health for the people of western, central and southern Illinois, and
- to advance the discipline of medicine.
We accomplish our mission by educating physicians, physician assistants and scientists, by researching the causes and cures of disease and by caring for people and communities.
We do this through systems of care that meet the goals of the Triple Aim + 1 model: Health care and health care education that’s more effective, efficient, equitable and enjoyable.
Many other schools share our aspirations, yet SIU stands apart.
Through this groundbreaking campaign—Forever SIU—we are putting our plans into action. We invite you to join us.
Since its founding nearly 50 years ago, SIU School of Medicine has grown to have a far-reaching impact.
- We offer 6 degree programs, 4 graduate research programs, 17 residencies and 12 fellowships, and we now have more than 5,200 alumni of our medical school and residence programs in practice.
- In recent years, we’ve conducted more than $30 million annually in funded research. Groundbreaking new discoveries by SIU researchers have led to effective therapies for hearing loss, Alzheimer’s disease, aging, tissue regeneration, many cancers, sickle cell anemia and genital herpes.
- In the area of clinical care, our 250 physicians and their fellow providers are responsible for more than a half-million patient visits each year and represent the core of the medical staff at our flagship partner hospitals, Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Decatur Memorial Hospital, Memorial Medical Center, Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and St. John’s Hospital.
These numbers are impressive, yet they don’t reveal what’s most important about our school—and that is how faithfully and successfully SIU School of Medicine has fulfilled its founding mission.
Across the Region and Beyond
Survey the 66 counties of central and southern Illinois, and you will see that SIU has an unparalleled impact—through our network of providers, SIU Medicine; through our partner hospitals; and through the medical professionals we have trained. We estimate that more than 40 percent of SIU graduates have stayed in Illinois to practice. What’s more, as many as half of all the physicians active in our region either hold SIU medical degrees or completed their residency training through SIU.
In short, SIU puts primary and specialty care within reach for hundreds of thousands of people.
At SIU School of Medicine, we are fulfilling our mission more successfully every day through a commitment to constant progress. This campaign will fuel that progress. In particular, it will fund initiatives in three key areas of immediate priority, with other important plans on the horizon.
Increased Scholarships
We are proud that the profile of our student body sets us apart from other U.S. medical schools. Among that group, we rank at or near the top in the number of first-generation college attendees we educate, in the percentage from groups under-represented in the medical profession, and in the number from disadvantaged financial backgrounds.
We are also proud of certain facts that distinguish our graduates: They are among the most likely to pursue careers in primary care and the most likely to serve patients in medically vulnerable populations—from Illinois to Africa.
Today, SIU is among the most affordable 25 percent of U.S. medical programs, and well below other Illinois schools, public and private, in cost. Yet the debt our graduates face at graduation is higher than average, having just passed $200,000. This is a meaningful milestone. This level of debt constrains young physicians in their professions choices, making it difficult for them to afford careers in primary care, even if that is where their passions might lie.
The answer is clear: We must greatly expand investment in scholarships. Without question, our students will continue to invest heavily in their own futures, but with our help, they can keep that investment manageable.
Population Health Program
Through its Population Science and Health Program, SIU School of Medicine is exploring important new ways to expand our impact on the health of people living in southern and central Illinois. The goal is to link the practice of medicine with population-based factors that influence illness and injury, health and well-being. These factors—whether in the environment or related to personal behaviors—together determine 80 percent of health outcomes.
To date, SIU has led research on disparities in cancer risks in different parts of Illinois and explored causes of childhood asthma. Through our Baby Brain Project, we’ve reached out to medically vulnerable families to teach them research-proven ways to stimulate their infants’ development. And, through an exciting longitudinal study now in planning, we will follow mothers who experience hypertension while pregnant, seeking to understand how this condition can lead to serious problems with cardiac health—and how we can intervene.
Our aim now is to take these efforts further: gathering and analyzing data on a large scale, designing strategies and testing their effectiveness, then shaping policies— legislative, clinical, educational.
The potential of this approach is enormous. And the need in our region—which includes 22 of Illinois’ least healthy counties—is great.
Support for Faculty
At SIU School of Medicine, our faculty are at the heart of all do. They are responsible for our focus on student success and the empowering ethos of collaboration that defines this school. They lead our new ventures in medical education and research. They deliver on our commitment to patients.
As we look to the future, we are determined to build on our tradition of innovation and deepen our service to our community. That means investing in the people who will, most directly of all, determine our success.
Our goal is to continue to attract outstanding individuals to our faculty in a highly competitive environment, to support them in their work, and to reward their efforts by establishing a Fund for Faculty Excellence and several new endowed professorships.
