Strategic Plan
Our gaze has focused on the forces that influence the needs and desires of those around us – the people, communities and populations we serve.
2020 to 2025
For 50 years, the SIU School of Medicine has fulfilled its legislative mandate to assist the people of central and southern Illinois in meeting their health care needs. We have emphasized high quality programs in medical education, research, clinical care and regional outreach while training more than 9,000 physicians, physician assistants, scientists and scholars. Our philosophy and programs are also characterized by enduring partnerships with others who share our vision.
Health care and health care education are now in a time of rapid and accelerating change. New alliances and advances in technology are emerging at a pace that we have not before experienced. Opportunities and challenges abound for every health care organization. Throughout 2019, in the context of this rapid change, we engaged in a process to more precisely define our mission, vision and values, and to develop strategies that best allow us to seize the opportunities and surmount the challenges. In short, we gazed into the future to develop a plan to, in effect, create our future and to move the organization forward.
Our gaze has focused on the forces that influence the needs and desires of those around us – the people, communities and populations we serve.
Our Region.
Our plan addresses a major initiative of the SIU System Board of Trustees. This initiative focuses on the unique nature of the geographic area in which we sit – an area with more than 2,500,000 people in a 40,000 square mile expanse, a distinctly rural area made up of the people in small urban areas, towns, and farms and the environment in which they exist. The vision of the Board is that the SIU System will develop a coordinated effort to unify the health services in this region, and that SIU will be known as the nation’s leader in rural health care assessment, education and delivery. We at the School of Medicine will be leaders in this effort.
Global and National Forces.
Our plan has considered systemic elements that threaten the health of those we serve. Our nation’s health care system is fragmented and uncoordinated. Inequities in access to care, in the delivery of care, in education and in the work environment are overflowing. The current global pandemic and climate change pose the greatest potential long-term threat to health. To address these elements, we envision a future with partnerships that are deeper and more effective. We believe that multilateral alliances of academic, private and government organizations will provide the best solutions.
Fundamental Advances.
Our plan has considered the rapid advances in the understanding of the continuum of lifelong learning, in new research methodologies, in new models of clinical care, and in human-machine collaboration, artificial intelligence and other technological advances. We must embrace the advances of this new world, as we continue to emphasize personal and healing relationships.
Thus, our fundamental responsibility is two-fold. The first is based on our mission of social accountability to the people of central and southern Illinois, and is defined by our programs and partnerships. The second is based on the medical school’s new vision, “Better Health for All,” and is defined by our desire to advance the discipline of medicine to fulfill this vision.
Our new strategic plan will guide SIU School of Medicine for the next five years. We will develop a work plan with tactics to fulfill these strategies. Yet even when these tasks are accomplished, our work will not be done. Given the rapidity of change, we will commit to the foresight and adaptability that is needed to best serve the people of our region, to improve the public health, and to advance the discipline of medicine.