A look back at UICOMR shows 53 years of innovative research
A long history of research on the Rockford campus
Not long after the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford was founded in 1971, research became an integral part of the campus. From community-based health research to basic science and clinical studies, the college has made research a part of its mission.
Community research demonstrates impact
The college’s first dean, Dr. Robert Evans, believed a new medical school in a city like Rockford, with no existing medical school or residency training programs, should collect data on the health care systems of the community to serve as a baseline against which to measure changes attributable to the school. This “Impact Study” led to the establishment of the Center for Community Health Research, which was led by Joel B. Cowen, MA. The study consisted of a survey of a sample of the community population to determine the source and nature of their health care, a description of the physician population and the hospital and outpatient care services and a review of how the health care dollar circulated within the community.1
This unit, which had five researchers and three support staff who were all supported by the college’s state budget, was created to assess the impact of the new medical school and support institutional planning. It evolved over the next 40 years under Cowen to have new names such as Health Systems Research and the Division of Health Policy and Social Science Research, and expanded to include external consulting and contract-based research partnerships with local, state and national organizations interested in health research and evaluation.
Today, the Division of Health Research and Evaluation resides within the UICOMR Department of Family and Community Medicine and engages in innovative and diverse research to advance the health of individuals, families and rural communities. The HRE Team, led by Manorama Khare, PhD, includes four faculty researchers, seven researchers and three support staff. The team conducts a wide scope of community-based research in such areas as rural health, women’s health, mental health, chronic disease prevention and the food environment, as well as broad-based community assessments and program evaluations. Other grants and research projects for the Department of Family and Community Medicine are coordinated through HRE.
Scientific research builds better health from the bench
With the establishment of the Department of Biomedical Sciences in 1977, UICOMR began a long legacy of research in the basic sciences.
Dean Clifford Grulee named Bernard Salafsky, PhD, a professor of pharmacology, to head the department. The fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the newly completed East Building on campus were dedicated to laboratory space for Salafsky and his work on tropical parasites and tick epidemiology and prevention and the newly recruited faculty who focused mainly on pharmacology.1 The increased research activity necessitated an animal care facility, which was under the care of Dr. Joseph Orthoefer, a veterinarian and former director of the Winnebago County Health Department, for more than 40 years.
Dr. Salafsky went on to become UICOMR’s regional dean in 1982, and his research through the Department of Biomedical Sciences included studies of eicosanoids and the pharmacology of human skin penetration by Schistosome larvae. The other researchers in the department made advances in such areas as:
- The role of cadmium on the adrenal cortex
- Estrogen’s role in breast cancer
- The effect of aging on diazepam’s effect on the central nervous system
Varicella-Zoster virus, which led to the development of Shingrix, a vaccine used globally today.
In 2008, the Department of Biomedical Sciences launched the Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology Program to train the next generation of scientists. These graduate students work with the faculty researchers in their laboratories, applying the skills they are learning in the development of diagnostics, drugs and biomedical implants. They present their research at Research Day, at conferences and in publications. The program has graduated 289 scientists now working in labs around the globe.
Today, the Department of Biomedical Sciences is headed by Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram, PhD, DVM, the Michael L. and Susan M. Glasser Professor of Rural Health Professions Education and Research. It includes his vaccine research lab as well as the Regenerative Medicine and Disability Laboratory, Blazer Foundation Nanomedicine Lab, 3D Bioprinting Lab, Lung Cancer Lab, Immunology Lab and Prostate Cancer Lab.
Research on rural health spans 30 years
Over the past 30 years, the fourth-year UICOMR medical students in the Rural Medical Education Program have conducted nearly 450 community-oriented primary care (COPC) research projects, focusing on various topics. Mental health has been the most prevalent topic area covered, followed by projects that focused on nutrition/exercise and substance use.
The COPC Project allows each student the opportunity to engage in the community where they are completing their 16-week rural preceptorship and learn more about the conditions, systems and people unique to the community. This research allows RMED students the opportunity to engage in the research process and to translate these skills into their future practice environment. Each student is advised by a National Center for Rural Health Professions faculty or staff member.
COPC project themes reflect priority health issues in rural communities while providing a scholarly activity for health profession students. Recommendations that resulted from student research projects have been implemented in rural areas where research is not often conducted.
From these medical student projects grew more research into educating health professionals and helping rural communities.
UICOMR’s National Center for Rural Health Professions, established in 2003, has programs and collaborative partnerships that have become successful models for education, service, research and policy related to rural health involving multiple health professions.
NCRHP researchers have published a number of articles over the years focusing rural health workforce development and medical education for rural areas.
The NCRHP is currently completing research around artificial intelligence in rural medicine and Illinois rural health workforce needs as well as analyses of pathways programs such as the Six-Week Interprofessional Preceptorship Program.
Medical students, residents and faculty contribute to research
UICOMR faculty regularly engage in research in their specialties, often with the assistance of medical students.
Programs for medical students to receive mentorship and assistance in completing research include James Scholars, Walter Rice Craig Scholars Program, Underrepresented in Medicine Student Research Program and others, which are coordinated through UICOMR’s Office of Research. Faculty also receive support through the Office of Research with biostatistical analysis, training, writing support, bridge grants and much more.
Research provides hope for millions of people suffering from serious illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, hereditary spastic paraplegia and more. It leads to better health outcomes for populations that are underserved, including millions of Americans living in rural and urban areas. It’s an economic driver and a source of pride for our campus, our college and our university.
As we look forward to the future of research on this campus, may the past 53 years be a solid foundation from which innovative research continues to prosper, impacting science, patients and the health care workforce around the globe.
1A Generation of New Physicians: A History of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, 1971-2001, Stanley W. Olson, MD