Associate Dean for Research

Welcome

Biomedical research is a critical function of academic medical schools. Research efforts at SIU Medicine directly support our mission to improve the health of the region’s population through innovations and scholarly improvements in education, medical care delivery and advances in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases. These advances directly benefit the patients we serve and transcend borders to benefit health care everywhere. 

SIU employs 175 full- and part-time biomedical researchers, pursuing innovative advances in a wide range of discovery, translational and clinical sciences, including hearing loss, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, women’s health, public health and restorative medicine. 

Trainees involved in biomedical research at the SOM include masters and doctoral students from three individual graduate programs, postdoctoral fellows, medical students, residents and clinical fellows. Faculty provide direct opportunities to integrate research within educational experiences, assuring that medical advances will continue to materialize for generations to come.  
 

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Associate Dean of Research Offices

Learn more about our teams and all the ways that we are organized to advance treatments, technology and educational experiences.

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Research is fundamental to better treatments, improved medical care and a healthier world. And it’s a key component of academic medicine at SIU.

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Research
FEATURE

Busy biochemistry lab is mapping virus

A biochemistry laboratory at SIU School of Medicine is sequencing the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 viruses that cause COVID-19 to determine if distinct variants exist in different Illinois communities and specifically in rural versus metropolitan areas.

“We’re looking for the ‘personality’ of the genome, to see how it’s changing over time,” says Keith Gagnon, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. “There are a couple of variants and we need to determine which is the most dangerous. Based on what we learn, we can tell the virus’ point of origin, whether it’s similar to an outbreak in Chicago, or New York or Italy. We can also see if it is mutating, to see if a new version is emerging.”

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Latest articles

Pharm group at Franklin Middle School

Brain Awareness Day at Franklin Middle School

Graduate students and research staff from SIU's Department of Pharmacology sparked some synapses of Franklin Middle School students on March 3, part of 'Brain Awareness Day.'
Navin donation

New gifts to help SIU OB-GYN research and students

The family of the late John (Jack) Navins, MD, bestowed a pair of $100,000 gifts to Southern Illinois University School of Medicine on March 1. Navins was a former SIU associate professor and OB-GYN
Barnard w sim kit

Group wins international sim training contest

SIU surgeon Melanie Barnard, MD, was part of an international team of clinicians who won the $700,000 grand prize to design low-cost simulation surgical training in the Global Surgical Training Challenge.