School of Medicine

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine was established in 1970 after the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill calling for a second state medical school to be established in downstate Illinois. The School graduated an advanced standing class in 1975 and its charter class of all Illinois students in 1976. Currently, 72 students are admitted each year. Today, the School encompasses a complete sequence of medical education beginning with the M.D. degree and progressing through residency training and on to continuing medical education for practicing physicians.

The medical education curriculum has brought the school national attention. Since students are not evaluated in competition with their peers, they are stimulated to cooperate with one another, a situation that more closely resembles what takes place in the actual practice of medicine. Problem-based learning concepts, including active learning situations with virtual and simulated patients, are used to help students work toward clinical competency throughout the four-year curriculum. The first year of the four-year M.D. degree is taught on the Carbondale campus where students concentrate on the basic sciences. The remaining three years are taught in Springfield where students study clinical medicine along with medical humanities and various electives.

The instructional program in Carbondale is based in Lindegren Hall and Memorial Hospital. In Springfield, it is based in the Medical Instructional Facility, the SIU Clinics, Memorial Medical Center, St. John’s Hospital and other locations.

The school offers an M.D.-J.D. dual degree program in conjunction with the SIU School of Law and an M.D.-MPH degree with the SIU College of Health and Human Sciences. The school also oversees a Physician Assistant program in Carbondale.

The School’s Medical/Dental Education Preparatory Program (MEDPREP) in Carbondale is designed to assist underrepresented populations and others with educationally disadvantaged backgrounds to prepare for success in medical and dental schools.

The School’s residency programs include dermatology, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, medicine/psychiatry, neurology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology and six surgical specialties. There are twelve fellowships for advanced clinical work.

The School’s continuing medical education program provides an extensive schedule of accredited conferences and symposia for physicians and other health-care professionals in central and southern Illinois. Programs are held in Springfield, Carbondale and throughout the School’s service area.

The School also offers graduate programs for master’s and doctoral degrees in physiology, pharmacology and molecular biology, microbiology and biochemistry, and a teaching certificate of anatomy. The faculty in Carbondale’s and Springfield’s basic science departments divide their time between teaching responsibilities and research. Both clinical investigators and basic scientists collaborate on a wide-range of medical and scientific projects; they work in the various basic science laboratories on both campuses and in the clinical facilities located in the affiliated hospitals in Springfield.

Interfaced with its various educational and research programs is the provision of patient care through the various clinical departments and specialized clinics of the School and the practice of its physician faculty.

Preference for admission is given to applicants from central and southern Illinois and other underserved (inner-city, rural) portions of the state. Inquiries regarding admissions and requests for a catalog from the School of Medicine should be addressed to the Director of Admissions, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, P.O. Box 19624, Springfield, Illinois 62794-9624. More information can found at www.siumed.edu.