CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Dr. Robert Good, the senior associate medical director of population health at Carle Health System, and professor Rashid Bashir, the head of the department of bioengineering at Illinois, have been named co-chairs of the 18-member group that will lead the effort to build the engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s core curriculum. They will be joined by several physicians from Carle, as well as faculty from a variety of colleges and departments across the Urbana campus. (See complete list below.)
U. of I. Interim Provost Edward Feser said the group has an opportunity to have a significant impact on the future of medical education. “Our aim is to create something truly new and transformative,” he said.
The group includes expertise in the basic health sciences, clinical training, engineering and technology, and accreditation. The committee is tasked with building an overall framework for the curriculum and broadly engaging faculty from across the campus to develop details of the curriculum. The group is expected to engage with dozens of additional Urbana faculty and Carle physicians, as well as alumni and external thought leaders.
“We are confident this team will create a curriculum with the right balance of clinical, biological and engineering instruction, giving our students the foundation they need to provide the highest quality care and to think and work as collaborative innovators,” said Matthew Gibb, M.D., executive vice president and chief medical officer of Carle Health System.
Additional subcommittees of faculty and physicians with subject matter expertise will be organized to develop the specific, individual components of the curriculum. The process to begin forming those subcommittees is expected to begin in early 2016.
The Carle Illinois College of Medicine is the first college of medicine in the nation specifically designed at the intersection of engineering and medicine. With a search for the founding dean and initial steps in the accreditation process already underway, the college is expected to accept its first class of students in 2018.
Core Curriculum Group members are:
Co-chairs
Rashid Bashir, U. of I. professor and department head of bioengineering
Robert Good, Carle senior associate medical director of population health and a physician of adult medicine
Carle Members
Robert Cranston, medical director of talent development and physician of neurology
Malcom Hill, associate medical director of primary care and physician of pediatrics
Michelle Olson, residency director of general surgery and physician of colo/rectal surgery
Sarwar Orakzai, physician of cardiology
Gerald Welch, associate medical director of behavioral health and physician of psychiatry
Illinois Members
Brian Aldridge, clinical professor, College of Veterinary Medicine
Jennifer Amos, teaching associate of bioengineering
Steve Boppart, M.D./Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering
Neal Cohen, director of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Initiative and professor of psychology
Janet Jokela, department head of internal medicine and professor of clinical medicine
Susan Martinis, department head of biochemistry and medical biochemistry
Gay Miller, professor of veterinary pathobiology
James Morrissey, professor of biochemistry
Saurabh Sinha, associate professor of computer science
Brad Sutton, technical director of the Beckman Institute Biomedical Imaging Center and associate professor of bioengineering
Phyllis Wise, professor of molecular and integrative physiology