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Welcome to Mini-Medical School On
behalf of the Dean, Faculty and Staff of the University of Illinois
College of Medicine at Peoria (UICOMP), I welcome you to
Mini-Medical School. We have scheduled lectures by distinguished
faculty of the College of Medicine in several important areas of
science and medicine. During 1994 and 1995, I planned and
implemented the UICOMP Mini-Med School.
This was the first Mini-Med school in the State of
Illinois and the seventh in the nation. The delivery of the
course is a collaborative effort between the faculty from my
department and from eight other academic departments of the UICOMP.
These departments are: Biomedical and Therapeutic
Sciences, Medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Pathology, Pediatrics,
Psychiatry, Radiology, and Surgery.
We anticipate, following completion of our eleventh annual
program, UICOMP will have graduated over 1000 central
Illinoisans from Mini-Med School. Virtually
all diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative achievements of
modern medicine stem from accomplishments in biomedical
research. Mini-Medical School is intended to educate the public
about a number of pressing issues, including the basic
scientific foundation upon which medicine is built. This
includes how discoveries in AIDS research, cancer, and other
diseases are made and why they might require years to confirm.
Newly emerging infectious diseases such as AIDS provide an
urgency to renewed emphasis on the support of biomedical
research. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on our
nation, concerns about bio-terrorism have caused our government
agencies to support expertise and funding in the study of
anthrax, plague, smallpox, and similar infectious agents, making this a
top priority in our country’s biodefense agenda.
Unconquered older disorders such as epilepsy,
Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric depression and psychoses,
cancer, and stroke similarly underscore the pressing need for
new achievements in medical science. Indeed, at a time when the
health community and political leaders are trying to reduce the
cost of healthcare, biomedical research has an even greater role
and responsibility in developing better and less expensive
treatments for disease. One
of our objectives is to teach the public about the benefits of
scientific research and clinical medicine being conducted at
UICOMP. The course will introduce students to some of the major
areas of modern biomedical inquiry and give them an appreciation
for each area as a scientific discipline. Upon completing the
course, students will be able to identify some of the major
problems with which each discipline is concerned and how medical
problems are being addressed at the UICOMP campus and elsewhere
around the nation. Should such goals be achieved in Spring 2005,
we will be fulfilling a precedent set the past ten years at UICOMP, and ensuring the continued success of Mini-Medical
School.
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