About the Program, School, Sites, and City

The Program
The induction of Southern Illinois University’s emergency medicine residency program was a collaborative effort made between the SIU School of Medicine, Memorial Medical Center, and St. John’s Hospital to attend to the growing need for emergency medicine physicians throughout the country. Its faculty members are housed in Division of Emergency Medicine that was formed out of the Department of Surgery to fulfill the need for an academic presence in emergency medicine. Faculty members are actively involved committees, projects, and research pertaining to medical education, quality improvement, patient safety, and public policy. The program’s main focus is to develop excellent clinicians, dedicated teachers, and effective leaders in emergency medicine through its residency training.

The School
The SIU School of Medicine is a 4 year institution whose main clinical basis inhabits the capital city and its surrounding areas. The school houses close to 300 medical students and in addition to its EM residency has well established residencies in pediatrics, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, dermatology, obstetrics/gynecology, general surgery, plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, ENT, and urology. The school has a long standing reputation as an innovator in medical education and its Academy for Scholarship in Education is known nationally for its contributions in educational research.

The Sites
In partnership with the school are Springfield’s two main hospitals that for over a century have been dedicated to serving and providing quality patient care to Springfield and its surrounding areas. Both are large tertiary care hospitals with a combined Emergency Department annual census exceeding 120,000.  Memorial Medical Center houses the Regional Burn Center.  St. John’s Hospital house the areas Children’s Hospital that has special capabilities in both Neonatal and a Pediatric Intensive Care Units. 
A specialized Pediatric Emergency Department is under development at St. John's supported both by the Chair of SIU Pediatrics, Dr. Mark Puczynski, and EM core faculty member, Dr. Myto Duong who is boarded in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. The Southern Illinois Trauma Center rotates between the two hospitals on an annual basis.  Both hospitals are equal partners in support of the Emergency Medicine Residency Program.

• Memorial Medical Center
• St. John's Hospital

The City
Springfield is the vibrant capital city of Illinois with over 130,000 inhabitants.  The city is large enough to provide many cultural, recreational, and dining opportunities to our residents but small enough to provide ease of transportation, affordable and comfortable living, and a strong community atmosphere.  Springfield was named one of the Top 20 Cities to Raise a Family by MSNBC and one of the Top 30 Greenest Cities by Popular Science.  The city has over 30 public parks with hiking and riding trails, 9 public golf courses, numerous cultural and historical sites including the internationally acclaimed Lincoln Library and Museum, and the 4200 acre Lake Springfield.

• Visit Springfield