Chancellor Miranda Visits UIC’s Regional Campuses Across the State

Posted on June 27, 2024

This spring, Chancellor Miranda visited the university’s regional campus operations at Peoria, Rockford and Springfield. During her state-wide tour, the Chancellor was welcomed by the outstanding leadership, faculty, staff, students and community members who reflect our mission of the broadest access to the highest quality education and health care, and ground-breaking research and discovery – while addressing health disparities for communities across Illinois.

A diverse group of faculty and leadership in formal attire, listening as a woman is speaking. On the rear wall is a sign reading
Chancellor Miranda and other leaders visited the Center 4 Health Research at the Peoria campus.

On March 26, UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda visited the Peoria campus, accompanied by Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Robert Barish, and Executive Dean of the College of Medicine Mark Rosenblatt, and welcomed by Regional Dean of the College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) Meenakshy Aiyer.

The highlights of the visit were a student-led tour, conversations with faculty and researchers and a meeting with campus leaders. The Chancellor also met with faculty, staff, students and leadership from area healthcare affiliates. She saw firsthand how technology enhances medical student learning and how virtual reality supports physicians in surgery planning as well as enhancing student learning. She also heard more about College of Medicine faculty members who created an app for learning histology, and then explored the lab work of researchers in neuroscience, cancer and Alzheimer’s. As part of her tour, she learned about the new Center 4 Health Research (C4HR) founded by Dr. Sunita Dodani, which focuses on population health, health equity, enhancing outcomes and informatics research.

Chancellor Miranda stated that the work of the Peoria campus is essential to the University’s mission of serving a diverse population, and she credited the College of Medicine’s strong collaboration with its local healthcare partners, Carle Health and OSF HealthCare.

On March 28, Chancellor Miranda visited the UIC College of Nursing Springfield where she toured the University of Illinois Springfield campus. There, she met with UIC faculty and program directors who conduct educational and research activities that serve the needs of the Springfield community to enhance workforce development in the nursing profession.

a wide shot of the various tour attendees in a large simulation lab with a number of bays of hospital beds and medical equipment
The chancellor and leadership toured the nursing simulation lab at the Springfield campus.

Then on May 9th, Chancellor Miranda arrived at the Rockford campus to speak with students, faculty, and staff from the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. The Chancellor also toured the facilities and spoke with College of Medicine Regional Dean Alex Stagnaro-Green, College of Pharmacy Vice Dean Kevin Rynn and College of Nursing regional program directors.

She also met with Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, public health administrator of the Winnebago County (Illinois) Health Department, Sandra Martell, and President of The Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, Dan Ross. Additionally, Chancellor Miranda engaged with local healthcare system leaders from Mercy Health System’s, OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, UW Health, Rosecrance and Crusader Community Health.

As part of the Chancellor’s student led tour, she visited the Medical Student Activity Center called “The Green House,” a clinical skills practice room, a compounding lab and a dispensing lab for pharmacy students, and a state-of-the-art nursing classroom.

A young man with dark hair and a beard and wearing a blue shirt, a woman with long dark hair and wearing a white sweater over a black dress, a Latinx woman with white hair and weapon a red jacket over a white blouse, and a woman with long sandy-colored hair wearing a brown sweater, all walking together in a wood paneled hallway with a sign reading
Students conducted a tour of the College of Pharmacy at the Rockford campus.

Later in the afternoon, the Chancellor also met with Mile Square leaders Dr. Ian Jasenof and Ms. Phyllis Grice for a tour of the UI Health Mile Square Health Center – LP Johnson Rockford. The clinic, which opened in 1971 to serve Rockford’s low-income neighborhoods, was originally a partnership between the College of Medicine Rockford and Swedish American Hospital, until becoming a Federally Qualified Health Center in 2020 under the UI Health Mile Square Health Center network.

The center provides primary care for adults, women, and children, including preventative care, chronic disease management, and behavioral health services to a diverse and economically disadvantaged population. Staffed by resident and faculty physicians, dentists, and a team of healthcare professionals, the center also offers outreach services, connecting patients with community resources. Chancellor Miranda noted the critical importance of the Mile Square clinic in Rockford and the impact it has had on the well-being of the local population by providing crucial access to clinical services.

Finally, the Chancellor visited Twin Brook Dairy in Union, Illinois, owned by Jim and Jill Sewell. The College of Nursing Rockford campus offers a rural nursing certificate which began as a graduate concentration. This program includes field trips to local farms to expose students to rural populations and provide them with a deeper appreciation of the unique health and wellness challenges that farming families face every day. Chancellor Miranda was delighted to meet “Chancellor” and “Miranda,” identical twin Jersey calves born on April 13, and named in honor of UIC’s new chancellor to symbolize and celebrate UIC Nursing’s dedication to rural health.

“Our regional UIC campuses fill a critical gap in education, healthcare research and healthcare delivery to our rural communities in Illinois,” said Dr. Robert Barish, UIC vice chancellor for health affairs. “Chancellor Miranda’s visits and interest have helped to showcase the excellent work being done by faculty staff and students who will become the future healthcare leaders throughout Illinois and beyond.”

Photos from the Chancellor's Campus Tours Heading link

  6. The named individuals wearing formal attire and posing together in front of a background with repeating logos for the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria
    Dr. Robert Barish, UIC vice chancellor for health affairs; UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda; Dr. Meenakshy Aiyer, regional dean of the College of Medicine Peoria; and Dr. Mark Rosenblatt, G. Stephen Irwin Executive Dean, University of Illinois College of Medicine.
  8. The named individuals posing together in a row, in a clinical simulation lab
    Nicholas Jones, executive vice president and vice president for academic affairs of the University of Illinois System; Eileen Collins, dean of the UIC College of Nursing; University of Illinois Springfield Vice President and Chancellor Janet Gooch; UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda; Sara McPherson, director of the College of Nursing Springfield, interim director of Peoria; UIC Provost Karen Colley; Tremayne Price, the chancellor’s deputy chief of staff; Mohammed Haq, student Board of Trustees member; and Elizabeth Fulmer, the chancellor’s chief of staff.
  12. A mean wearing a blue checked sport coat and oxford shirt standing wiht his hands in his pockets, listening to the chancellor with short white hair and a red jacket with a white blouse. They are standing together in an office with a desk and computer.
    Mark Meurer, associate director of recruiting, public relations and marketing for the Rural Medical Education (RMED) Program spoke about the program with Chancellor Miranda.
  13. A young man with dark hair and a beard and wearing a blue shirt, a woman with long dark hair and wearing a white sweater over a black dress, a Latinx woman with white hair and weapon a red jacket over a white blouse, and a woman with long sandy-colored hair wearing a brown sweater, all walking together in a wood paneled hallway with a sign reading
    Students also led a tour of the College of Pharmacy in Rockford, including a learning space that allows virtual connection between students in Rockford and students in Peoria.
  14. A man with short white hair and wearing a dark suit, a young woman with long brown hair and wearing a tan sweater over a white dree, a woman with shoulder length white hair wearing a red jacket over a white blouse, and man with salt and pepper hair hearing a dark gray suit, all standing in a laboratory space with shelves in the background filled with pharmaceutical bottles.
    Glenn Schumock (right), dean of the College of Pharmacy, presented the college's compounding and dispensing facility. At left is Kevin Rynn, vice dean of the College of Pharmacy.
  15. A conference room with the various participants seated at tables arranged in a large square.
    Chancellor Miranda met with university leaders, college leaders, and community leaders including Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, Sandra Martell of the Winnebago County Health Department, and Dan Ross, the president of The Community Foundation of Northern Illinois.
  19. the named people standing in a semicircle and conversing. On a wall in the background is a sign reading
    Dr. Robert Barish, UIC vice chancellor for Health Affairs; UIC Chancellor Marie Lynn Miranda; Dr. Xue-Jun Li, professor of biomedical sciences; Phyllis Grice, chief operating officer for Mile Square Health Center; and Dr. Ian Jasenof, chief medical officer for Mile Square Health Center.
  21. at left, the chancellor in a red jacket and a woman in a green jacket and white blouse listening to an African American woman with shjoulder length black hair standing at right and wearing a black jacket and white blouse
    Inside the Mile Square Health Center - L.P. Johnson Rockford, Chief Operating Officer Phyllis Grice (at right) explained the services they provide, the communities they serve and local health priorities.
  24. various tour attendees wearing jackets and posing together in a clean, well-lit, modern barn
    Chancellor Miranda posing with College of Nursing faculty and staff at the Twin Brook Dairy Farm, which serves as a field site for nursing students to learn about rural health.
Modified on July 01, 2024