Mission The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU SOM) Baby Brain Development Program will train family specialists in southern Illinois to build appropriate skills in parents to maximize the developmental outcomes of their children. Background The Illinois Delta Region comprises the 16 southernmost counties in the state of Illinois. 14 of the 16 counties in this region are designated as rural, and its total population is 344,594. The 2014 County Health Rankings and Roadmap Report identified 15 of 16 counties as ranking in the lower 50% of Illinois counties for health outcomes
Brenna Westlake was born in December 2011 with Harlequin Ichthyosis (HI), a very rare and sometimes fatal skin disease. Babies born with HI lack a protein that moves fats to the skin’s surface layer to create a strong barrier.
For more than two years, Frank Vala endured excruciating back pain that interrupted his life, making even simple activities feel impossible. After two surgeries and multiple injections that failed to bring him relief, his hope was dwindling. But Vala’s journey took a positive turn when he found SIU Medicine and surgeon Dr. Bruce Frankel, whose advanced techniques offered a new path to recovery.
In 2015, Dr. Debra L. Klamen proposed an entirely new model for third-year clerkships in response to the many calls for improvement in the education of medical students ( 1 ). The envisioned clerkship leaned heavily on the theory of deliberate practice ( 2 ). The definition of deliberate practice is “a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. Deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.” The new model w as created to address some of the deficiencies that were found from research into the clinical year
