History of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

SIU School of Medicine is guided by a clear mandate to assist the people of central and southern Illinois in meeting their health care needs through education, patient care, research and service to the community. The goals of SIU School of Medicine are -

• To offer programs in undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education that respond to advances in medical knowledge, skills and technology and to the health care needs of this region;

• To provide services to the region through tertiary patient care facilities and specialists, through support of health care delivery systems, and through contributions to programs in public education and allied health education; and

• To develop and maintain research in the sciences basic to medicine and in the clinical sciences, including the study of the cultural and behavioral aspects of medicine and medical education as well as methods of health care delivery.

Beginning in 1970, our founding dean, Richard H. Moy, M.D., and newly recruited department chairs, clinical basic science and medical education faculty literally created the School’s innovative competency-based curriculum. Today, the School encompasses a complete sequence of programs beginning with undergraduate medical education and progresses through residency training and continuing education for practicing physicians. Carl J. Getto, M.D., succeeded Moy (1994-2001) and J. Kevin Dorsey, M.D., Ph.D., SIU class of 1978, was named our third dean and provost in 2001.

Using existing University and community resources in Carbondale and Springfield, the School has grown rapidly. In Carbondale, home of Southern Illinois University’s parent campus, faculty deliver the basic science curriculum using various science facilities. Springfield, 170 miles to the north, is the site of the remaining three years of undergraduate curriculum and 14 residency programs, a basic science and clinical faculty of 300-plus, and the School’s central administration. Approximately 93- downstate physicians serve as volunteer and part-time faculty for both locations.

The facilities supporting the School’s program now include University-owned and leased structures and affiliated community hospitals. Affiliation agreements between the School and Memorial Medical Center and St. John’s Hospital provide the valuable physical base for the clinical programs in Springfield. Agreements also are in place with Memorial Hospital in Carbondale and the VA Health Care System in Marion as well as with the hospitals that work with the School’s Family Medicine Centers in Decatur and Quincy.

After the School received provisional accreditation in 1972, the members of the charter class began their studies in Carbondale in June 1973. Full accreditation came in 1975, followed that same year by the first commencement of 24 advanced-standing students and in 1976 by the graduation of 43 students in the charter class. Since then, classes have graduated every spring, bringing the total in 2007 to 2,130 new physicians.