Virginia L. Cooper has joined the legal counsel staff as senior associate general counsel for health care litigation at Southern Illinois University. Based at the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, she has experience in the areas of medical malpractice litigation and health and insurance law.

"We are pleased to have Ms. Cooper as part of our team. She brings both substantive real-life medical experience as well as solid legal credentials, which will serve our physicians and patients well," said Jerry D. Blakemore, general counsel for Southern Illinois University.

Previously, Cooper was an assistant state's attorney for the Cook County State's Attorney’s Office in Chicago as a litigator in the civil actions and public interest bureaus (1994-2005). She also worked for two private law firms in Chicago and Virginia Beach, Va., and, before entering law school, worked as a registered nurse, specializing in critical care and surgical nursing (1976-89).

Cooper earned her law degree at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Va., (1992) and her bachelor's degree in nursing at Loyola University of Chicago (1976).

Cooper is the daughter of Ruth Cooper of Chicago Heights.

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