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ILLINOIS HEALTH
Islet cell project a diabetes
breakthrough
Bernie Mac Foundation: A partnership of hope
Smiles all around as our dental school gets a makeover
A publication of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences SystemVolume 1 | Spring 2012
Changing Medicine. For Good.
A NEw STATE Of HEALINgChicago leading the way to a healthier Illinois
INAUGURAL ISSUE
Introducing the university of Illinois Hospital
& Health sciences system. what you knew
as the university of Illinois medical center
is now part of a larger organization
that also includes the university health
sciences colleges. by bringing these
resources together, we’ll be able to make
the best care accessible to those who
need it most. because we all deserve the
best healthcare. the university of Illinois
Hospital & Health sciences system.
changing medicine. for good.
Find out more at HoSPitaL.uiLLinoiS.edu
tHe best wAy to treAt A
communIty Is by treAtIng tHe people wHo mAKe
It up.
28707_UIH_OneOffAds_95x12_r3.indd 1 4/26/12 4:18 PM
Introducing the university of Illinois Hospital
& Health sciences system. what you knew
as the university of Illinois medical center
is now part of a larger organization
that also includes the university health
sciences colleges. by bringing these
resources together, we’ll be able to make
the best care accessible to those who
need it most. because we all deserve the
best healthcare. the university of Illinois
Hospital & Health sciences system.
changing medicine. for good.
Find out more at HoSPitaL.uiLLinoiS.edu
tHe best wAy to treAt A
communIty Is by treAtIng tHe people wHo mAKe
It up.
28707_UIH_OneOffAds_95x12_r3.indd 1 4/26/12 4:18 PM
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 1
Joe g.N. “Skip” garcia, MD
Vice President for Health Affairs, University of Illinois
Earl M. Bane Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Bioengineering
I’M pLEASED TO INTrODUcE THE fIrST ISSUE Of IllInoIs HEAltH, a brand-new
publication of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. I hope you will
spend a few minutes reading about the exciting changes taking place throughout the
University of Illinois’ health sciences schools, colleges and patient care entities.
Over the last year, we have streamlined the internal structure of our health system
and introduced a new name for our combined clinical research, health professional training
and patient care enterprise. As the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System,
we are poised like never before to make a difference in healthcare, beginning with the
people served by our flagship health campus in chicago and
extending to the people of Illinois and our nation.
Every day I spend with my colleagues on our campuses
and elsewhere, I am constantly impressed with their knowledge,
dedication and optimism. from what I hear and see, there is a feeling
that this is a place where you can truly make a difference. Our exceptional health professionals
are working to gain knowledge and develop treatments that will improve outcomes and long-term
health. These game-changers are not just for our own patients, but for patients at the hospital up
the street or across town and for people in communities across the state.
what exactly does it mean to “make a difference?” There are as many answers to that as
there are people working here. And they are all important. But as a whole, as a health science
system with our public charter from the people of Illinois, we can do more than just about anyone
in the region to make a difference in people’s health.
In this first issue you will learn more about how we are fulfilling our renewed mission to
provide health care for the people of Illinois, find innovative ways to deliver personalized health
to those who need it most and grow clinical programs of distinction out of our outstanding
translational research programs.
for example, the relatively new field of human genomic science promises to make a
difference in how we diagnose and treat diseases that impact genetically similar populations.
comedian Bernie Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an immune system disorder that African-Americans are three times more
likely to have than whites. Together with his family and the Bernie Mac foundation, we are determined to make inroads in
the fight against a disease that we are just beginning to understand.
In a country with ostensibly the best healthcare on earth, there are millions of people who aren’t benefiting
from it. The problem of health disparities among African-American and Latino populations is complex. Access,
genetically different responses to disease and treatment, and health literacy all play a role. But in our health system, we
have the science and the community populations to prove that this can be changed, that disparities can be reduced or
even eliminated.
As a boy, I picked strawberries with migrant workers in california. I saw up close the disadvantages the workers
faced when a number of them became ill with lung disease. I decided then and there to pursue a career in healthcare and
try to make a difference. That is why it is so refreshing to find kindred spirits all over the University of Illinois campuses
who are driven to do the same. I hope you enjoy some of their encouraging stories in these pages.
As we launch this first issue of Illinois Health, I would like to dedicate it to all the people in our health system who are
working every day to make a difference in other people’s lives. I hope you will join me in supporting them and the exciting
work they are doing.
wELcOME
Joe G.n. “skip” Garcia, MD
Office of the Vice President for Health AffairsVice president for Health AffairsJoe g.N. “Skip” garcia, MD
Interim Associate Vice president for professional practice & chief Medical Officer, UI HospitalBryan A. Becker, MD
Associate Vice president for population Health SciencesJerry A. Krishnan, MD, phD
Associate Vice president, UI HospitalJohn DeNardo, MS, MpH, fAcHE
Associate Vice president for Enterprise StrategyMike Jonen
Assistant Vice president for finance & chief financial Officer, UI Hospitalwilliam Devoney
Illinois Health Editorial StaffpublisherMike Jonen
Editor in chiefcamille Baxter, MA
Editorpat Kampert
Assistant Editorcayce Mallen, MHA
Editorial consultantsMichael J. wesbecher, carl Vogel
contributing writersKevin McKeough, John Morrissey, Alice patenaude, cindy Veldhuis, MS, and Linda wilson
DesignAnne Boyle, Boyle Design Associates
photographyDonald Barge, Lloyd Degrane, Barry Donald,Bart Harris, Mike Mccafrey and David Zalazniki/star Journal
Illinois Health is a publication of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System©2012 All rights reserved.
All inquiries should be addressed to:
ILLINOIS HEALTH
Vice president for Health Affairs Marketing
HIpAA compliance StatementThe Health Insurance portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIpAA) outlines the minimum standards that need to be met to ensure the confidentiality, privacy and security of health care information. The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System ensures that all parties involved in the use and/or disclosure of protected health care information comply with current HIpAA regulations. Any identifiable and/or disclosed patient information within this publication has been consented by the patient or appropriate family member for the purpose of advancing the mission and visibility of the UI Hospital & Health Sciences System.
MissionThe mission of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System is to provide high-quality, cost effective health care for the people of the state of Illinois, to leverage leadership in education and innovation to deliver “personalized medicine” to vulnerable populations and to grow clinical programs that are tightly linked to translational research and are academically distinct both regionally and nationally.
ILLINOIS HEALTH
cOVEr DESIgN: LAUgHLIN cONSTABLE
SMILES ALL ArOUND$22 million renovation will have College of Dentistry ready for the future
KEy fINDINgSNew accomplishments by our researchers
My pASSIONSometimes, improving healthcare isn’t as complicated as we think
fIrST BEST MOST Fast facts on the health system’s accomplishments as a national leader
22
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29
VIcE prESIDENT’S MESSAgE The sum of the health system’s parts is potent indeed
HEALTH SySTEM NEwSLatest happenings at the hospital andin health sciences
A NEw STATE Of HEALINgChicago leading the way to a healthier Illinois
INSULIN INDEpENDENcEIslet cell project a breakthrough for difficult diabetes cases
TUrNINg LAUgHS INTO LIfE SAVErSHealth system teaming up with the Bernie Mac Foundation to search for a cure for sarcoidosis
14
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18
IN THIS ISSUE
N DEcEMBEr, the college of
Medicine in peoria opened its
$10 million, 24,000-square-foot
cancer research facility, which
will enhance the leading-edge
research conducted by cancer
biology and pharmacology faculty
into the molecular, cellular and
genetic characteristics of cancer.
“we have spent nearly 10 years
dreaming about this building and
the vital research that will occur
within it,” says Sarah rusch, MD,
regional dean in peoria. “Each of us
has a friend or relative who has been
impacted by cancer. It is critically
important that we find a cure. peoria
has the people, the plan and the
potential—and now the place.”
researchers led by Jasti rao,
phD, senior associate dean for
research and head of cancer biology
and pharmacology in peoria, will
work collaboratively with their
peers at other facilities, including
the Illinois cancer center, an
oncology practice based in peoria,
and children’s Hospital of Illinois at
OSf-Saint francis Medical center in
peoria, which is the Midwest affiliate
of St. Jude children’s research
Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Since its founding in 2001, the
cancer research program in peoria
has received more than $27.7 million
in grants and published 150 papers.
rao has discovered and patented
a promising new anti-cancer treat-
ment that’s now being safety-tested
before it progresses to human trials.
The University of Illinois
collaborated on the project with
caterpillar Inc., OSf-Saint francis
Medical center, Methodist Medical
center, the Heartland partnership
and other public agencies and
private donors.
College of Medicine in Peoria opens cancer research facility
I
ABOVE: the College of Medicine at Peoria’s new cancer research facility (above) covers 24,000 square feet and cost $10 million to build.
rIgHT: Dean sara Rusch is shown welcoming U.s. transportation secretary Ray laHood prior to his remarks at the opening ceremony.
BELOw: the official ribbon cutting for the Cancer Research Center represented the fulfillment of a dream 10 years in the making.
4 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
HEALTH SySTEM NEwS
pH
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AV
ID Z
AL
AZ
NIK
I/J
OU
rN
AL
ST
Ar
HE UNIVErSITy Of ILLINOIS HOSpITAL & Health Sciences System is
part of a partnership to develop the first blood and marrow stem cell
transplant center in Nepal.
Stem cell transplant is a standard procedure for the treatment of many
blood cancers, including leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. The planned BMT
center in Bharatpur, in central south Nepal, will aim to serve thousands of blood
cancer patients from among the 30 million people of Nepal and the nearly 1.2
billion people in neighboring India.
The Health System is collaborating on the project with B.p. Koirala
Memorial cancer Hospital in Bharatpur and the Binaytara foundation, an
Illinois nonprofit organization that promotes health and education, which was
founded and is led by an oncologist who trained at UI Hospital. The UI Blood
and Marrow Transplant program and the center for global Health will train staff
in Nepal via videoconferencing and host physicians from Nepal.
“After visiting the cancer hospital in Bharatpur last May, I immediately
felt the challenge to help patients with blood cancer in Nepal,” says Damiano
rondelli, MD, professor of medicine and director of UI Hospital’s BMT program,
who is heading the project.
“Many of these patients are in need of stem cell transplant but currently
don’t have this option,” rondelli continues. “we are well aware of the many
challenges that this project will face but we are fully committed to assist Nepal
in achieving this goal.”
Nepal is a landlocked developing country in South Asia bordered by
china and India. recent world Health Organization reports suggest that deaths
from cancer are increasing to epidemic proportions in developing countries.
At B.p. Koirala Memorial cancer Hospital, 600 patients with leukemia,
110 patients with lymphoma and 40 patients with multiple myeloma were
diagnosed in 2010 alone.
Health system leads partnership to establish Nepal’s first blood and marrow transplant program
TUI Hospital receives bariatric surgery center reaccreditation
hE UNIVERSIty oF ILLINoIS
hospital’s bariatric surgery center
has received reaccreditation as an
American College of Surgeons Level
1 Accredited Bariatric Center, maintaining
its standing as the only center in Chicago
with this status. the center received its
initial accreditation in 2008.
Accredited bariatric surgery centers
provide not only the hospital resources
necessary for optimal care of morbidly
obese patients, but also the support
necessary to address the entire spectrum
of care and needs of bariatric patients,
from the prehospital phase through the
postoperative care and treatment process.
More than 11 million people in the
U.S. suffer from severe obesity, which
plays a critical role in type 2 diabetes,
hypertension, cardiovascular disease and
many other medical complications. “For
some patients, the only effective, lasting
treatment for severe obesity is weight loss
surgery,” says Subhashini Ayloo, MD, as-
sistant professor of surgery and director of
bariatric surgery at UI hospital.
Physicians at the hospital perform
robotic-assisted laparoscopic procedures,
including gastric bypass (reducing the size
of the stomach and routing food past part
of the small intestine), sleeve gastrectomy
(surgical removal of part of the stomach)
and adjustable gastric band surgery (plac-
ing an adjustable band around part of the
stomach to reduce food intake). In the past
two years, more than 500 bariatric proce-
dures have been performed.
the hospital offers patients a multi-
disciplinary approach to bariatric surgery
with a state-of-the-art facility, the latest
technology to minimize complications
and successful weight loss maintenance
through the Nutrition and Wellness Center.
T
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 5
6 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
EALTH SySTEM fAcULTy, students and
medical residents are working with health
care providers in Senegal to increase
detection and treatment of cervical
cancer in the Northwest coast African nation.
In late January, Andrew Dykens, MD, MpH,
assistant clinical professor of family medicine,
led a team that traveled to the Saraya district
in southeastern Senegal. working in collabora-
tion with peace corps volunteers in the district,
they spent nearly a month training staff at the
district’s health center to in turn train health
providers to perform cervical exams.
Dykens first traveled to Senegal in 2010
to perform an assessment of the district’s health
needs and has returned with a team each year.
On the latest trip, the team expanded its efforts
to encompass the entire surrounding Kedou-
gou region, which has a population of about
130,000, including an estimated 35,000 women
in the target age range for the exams.
“There will be at least one person at
each health post throughout the region by the
end of this year, meaning 35,000 women will
have access to a service that they did not have
previously,” Dykens says.
In the developed world, the precancerous
cells that develop into cervical cancer are
detected easily with routine pap smear
screenings. However, these screenings require
equipment to collect the samples and a
pathologist to read them, neither of which are
widely available in Senegal.
Dykens’ team is training the health workers
in the use of a common technique for cervical
exams that entails washing the cervix in a diluted
form of acetic acid, the main component in
vinegar, which causes precancerous cells to
appear as white patches. “The technique we’re
using is highly appropriate for a low-resource
setting,” Dykens says.
Treatable if caught in the precancerous or
early stages but usually fatal once it becomes
advanced, cervical cancer is the number one
cancer killer of women in Senegal. current
estimates are that 1,197 Senegalese women are
diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and
that 795 of them die from the disease.
Because it takes two to five years for
precancerous cells to develop into malignancies,
there is time to treat them if detected. Dykens’
team has begun teaching health workers the
use of cryotherapy, a technique that freezes the
abnormal cells, causing them to slough off the
cervix.
“By the end of 2013, trainers will be in
place for both the exams and cryotherapy, and
with the assistance of peace corps workers,
the development of health service delivery can
continue with very little help from us,” Dykens
says. “we hope to work ourselves out of a job.”
Public health professor takes aim at cervical cancer in Senegal
H
Fourth-year medical student Amish Desai (from left), Peace Corps volunteer leah Moriarty and Andrew Dykens confer in senegal.
A F R I C ASenegal
Kenya
Mediterranean Sea
A t l a n t i c O c e a nI n d i a nO c e a n
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 7
HE HIV INfEcTION rATE in Kenya is
7 percent of the country’s population, but
it’s 20 percent in the country’s Nyanza
province. To help reduce infection rates,
robert c. Bailey, phD, MpH, professor of
epidemiology at the School of public Health, has
helped lead a campaign to circumcise young
adult men in Nyanza.
Bailey’s past research has found that
circumcision helps reduce incidence of HIV
infection, but unlike the rest of Kenya, the
practice is not common in Nyanza. following
the early 2007 publication of Bailey’s findings,
the world Health Organization recommended
that in areas with a high prevalence of HIV, male
circumcision should be offered as part of a
multipronged approach to HIV prevention.
Bailey and collaborators from the
University of Manitoba and the University of
Nairobi designed the policies for the circumcision
promotion program and worked with the Kenyan
government to implement it. The program is
supported by funding from the U.S. president’s
Emergency plan for AIDS relief and the Bill and
Melinda gates foundation.
“we train people in major health facilities
to perform circumcisions, we have teams that go
out to smaller health facilities in the villages, and
there’s been a major effort to promote circumci-
sion,” says Bailey, who spends five months out of
the year in Kenya, on the East coast of central
Africa, where he has been working since 1997. “I
assist with strengthening the infrastructure and
making sure there are urologists and medical
doctors who are training health service providers
and helping direct the program.”
Since the program began, 400,000 males
between 15 and 30 years old—the age range
with the highest incidence of HIV infection—
have been circumcised. The program’s goal is to
perform 950,000 circumcisions by the end of
2014, which Bailey estimates would avert nearly
200,000 HIV infections.
working with five School of public
Health phD students, Bailey has been the
primary investigator on a series of studies
assessing the impact of the program, including
changes in the prevalence of HIV infection,
sexual behavior, beliefs and attitudes about
circumcision, and women’s feelings of
vulnerability to HIV infection.
Bailey also conducted a 2008 study
to pilot infant male circumcision as a means
of overcoming some of the implementation
barriers among adult males. He collaborated
on the study with obstetrics and gynecology
assistant professor Tracy Irwin, MD, MpH,
associate professor Sherry Nordstrom, MD,
and Marisa young, an MD/phD student in the
college of Medicine.
“It’s very gratifying to see that we’re
achieving large numbers of circumcisions that
I’m very confident are going to avert hundreds
of thousands of HIV infections,” Bailey says.
“when you reduce the HIV prevalence in men,
you reduce it in their partners and eventually
in their babies. we hope this effort is going to
have a substantial benefit.”
Bailey’s work in Kenya helping to curb HIV
T
Circumcision
program hopes
to avert 200,000
HIV infections
throughout the
Nyanza province.
LOcATION pHOTOgrApHy By TrAcy IrwIN AND SHErry NOrDSTrOM
A F R I C ASenegal
Kenya
Mediterranean Sea
A t l a n t i c O c e a nI n d i a nO c e a n
‘Interrupters’ documentary wins Spirit film award
DOcUMENTAry film about three
people working for ceasefire—
a violence prevention program
founded by gary Slutkin, MD,
professor of epidemiology at the School
of public Health—received the 2012 Spirit
Award for best docu-
mentary. The annual
Spirit Awards honor
excellence in indepen-
dent filmmaking. This
year’s ceremony was
held feb. 25 in Santa
Monica, calif.
filmed over
a year beginning
in 2009, the film,
titled the Interrupters, follows violence
interrupters Ameena Matthews, cobe
williams and Eddie Bocanegra as they
attempt to intervene in impending
shootings. Directed by Steve James
(whose previous credits include the
acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams),
and produced by James and best-selling
author Alex Kotlowitz (there Are no
Children Here), the film has been shown
in theaters across the country, including
weeks of sold-out screenings at the
gene Siskel film center in chicago.
the Interrupters also was broadcast
nationally on feb. 14 as an episode of the
pBS television program “frontline” and
was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc.
ceasefire employs dozens of
interrupters to work in some of chicago’s
most violent neighborhoods, where they
head off events that otherwise might
result in a shooting. “Violence interrupt-
ers were invented by the ceasefire pro-
gram,” says Slutkin, ceasefire’s executive
director. Violence interrupters in chicago
stopped nearly 500 events in 2011 and
more than 2,000 events in the last five
years, according to Slutkin.
“They know what’s going on in the
neighborhoods. They get information
from hospitals, from friends, from moms,
and because of their training and their
support, they are able to effectively
persuade people into not doing a
shooting,” Slutkin says.
In use in 15 U.S. cities and five
countries, the ceasefire method
treats violence as an infectious
disease, preventing its spread to keep
neighborhoods safer.
A
8 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
Pharmacy and Chicago Bear form an award-winning team to urge flu vaccinations
HIcAgO BEArS wIDE rEcEIVEr EArL BENNETT partnered with
the hospital’s pharmacy practice last fall in a campaign to promote flu
vaccination and flu awareness. In March, the department received a national
award for immunization community outreach by the American pharmacists
Association.
Bennett participated in a community flu vaccination event, held at the
Student recreation facility in September. His image also was used in promotional
materials for the campaign, which ultimately resulted in more than 400 people
receiving flu shots.
“Much of maintaining your health is just taking necessary preventative steps.
The same goes for preventing the flu. A simple vaccination can keep you healthy
and productive. That’s why I get my flu shot every year,” Bennett says.
In addition to receiving their flu shot, participants in the event had the
opportunity to meet
Bennett, have their
photo taken with
him and receive a
miniature football
with his autograph.
Student pharmacists,
along with a pharmacy
faculty preceptor,
also staffed tables to
educate participants
on topics such as the
proper hand washing
technique and the
differences between a
cold and the flu.
The event
provided practicum
experience for fourth-
year pharmacy
students, who provided the vaccinations under faculty supervision. “I was able to
put into practice the skills that I have learned via my immunization training,” says
Merrideth gilly, a fourth-year pharmacy student.
Between 5 and 20 percent of the U.S. population become infected with
influenza each year, according to the centers for Disease control, and approximately
200,000 people annually are hospitalized for flu, according to Janet Engle, pharmD,
professor and head of pharmacy practice and executive associate dean of the
college of pharmacy, who coordinated the event.
“reaching out to the community and providing the surrounding neighborhood
with high-level pharmacy services is a priority for our department,” Engle says.
“partnering with Earl Bennett gave us an excellent opportunity to provide
community outreach.”
The number of people who were vaccinated against the flu decreased
dramatically in the 2010-2011 flu season compared with the previous year, when
flu awareness was heightened by the H1N1 (“swine flu”) epidemic. To address this
issue, pharmacy practice developed a marketing campaign incorporating Bennett’s
likeness, which stressed the importance of flu shots.
The event kicked off the 2011 flu vaccine campaign by the university
pharmacies. As a part of this push, flu vaccines were distributed on campus in
early October. This initiative led to more than 4,000 students and employees being
vaccinated against the flu.
C
Chicago Bear Earl Bennett (center, first row) joins a winning team with the hospital’s pharmacy practice.
pH
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DO
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A NEw STATE Of HEALINgChicago leading the way to a healthier Illinois
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 9
HE cOMpETITIVE LANDScApE for health care in the chicago area is a crowded one, where new buildings and advertising campaigns seem to attract as much
attention as quality medicine. while the University of Illinois, with its flagship academic medical campus in
chicago, has long been known as the largest and most diverse medical school in the country,
the school’s depth and scope of colleges have been a lesser-known source of strength, one
that dwarfs the offerings at institutions like Northwestern University, University of chicago
and Loyola University.
t
10 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
To better marshal the University of
Illinois’ powerful healthcare forces into a
national presence, university leaders have
integrated the school’s health institutions
into the University of Illinois Hospital & Health
Sciences System, a newly created umbrella
that encompasses the university’s health care
facilities and the colleges of Medicine, Applied
Health Sciences, Dentistry, pharmacy, Nursing,
the School of public Health as well as the Jane
Addams college of Social work.
“This is not a new path for us, just a
better-articulated one,” says Joe g.N. “Skip”
garcia, MD, university vice president for health
affairs. “No other institution in the Midwest has
anything close to the strength of these seven
units, which are now working together in a way
they never have before.”
The university’s individual colleges
have reputations for excellence, garcia says,
but have not always functioned in a cohesive
manner. But as the researchers, faculty and
clinicians in various health entities get to know
each other, the possibilities for collaboration,
breakthroughs and success increase
exponentially, he adds.
“This is an opportunity for us to create
some excitement and be clear about what we’re
about,” garcia explains. “It’s also an opportunity
to connect more closely with the people we
take care of and leverage the research prowess
and the intellectual firepower that the university
has.”
In the academic medical world, UI’s
reputation is well-established among its peers
locally and nationally. college of Medicine
researchers in chicago, for example, attract
an enormous amount of funding from the
prestigious National Institutes of Health.
perhaps not coincidentally, research has
been a passion for garcia throughout his career,
which took him to major leadership positions at
Johns Hopkins University and the University of
chicago before he arrived at the University of
Illinois. As an elected member of the National
Academies Institute of Medicine, a community
of the nation’s elite thought leaders, he is
determined to give research a spotlight in the
new system.
“Our research portfolio is incredibly
strong, and we blend that into our clinical
mission in a distinctive way. Not too many
‘‘ ‘‘
JOE g.N. “SKIp” gArcIA, MD
We are the foremost training site for health professionals for the entire state.
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 11
institutions can lay claim to a powerful combination
like that.”
The heart of the new health system is
chicago, and garcia believes that the medical
campus’ home on the near west Side can be a
key advantage, one that can benefit patients
throughout Illinois and the rest of the country.
garcia says the university plans to bring more
personalized medicine to the 2 million people in
its service area, of whom 35 percent are Hispanic
and 35 percent are African-American.
“The practices and research within the
health system, and the way it serves the
chicagoland area, make it an incubator for
programs across the country,” garcia notes.
“Our goal is to be recognized for our programs
both within our communities and throughout
the state and country.”
The solutions that will result from such
efforts should help hospitals and health systems
around the country better care for underserved
and genetically diverse populations, he says.
“These types of research opportunities aren’t
as readily available in other parts of the country,”
garcia says. “But we need to do a better job of
letting the community know about our services
and extend our reach into these areas.”
Battling health disparities is an overarching
theme of the university’s mission, according to
garcia, who believes that the new health system
can be a leader in that regard.
“we want to bring high-quality, cost-
effective health care to the state, especially to
medically underserved Latinos and African-
Americans,” he says. “we truly want to make
a difference in chicago—and beyond.”
Illinois Health recently interviewed garcia
about the new direction:
Q: Why is the effort to defeat disparities so
important?
A: This is an issue that truly affects everyone.
It affects our healthcare costs. And it affects
our culture because we have these growing
populations that are unable to receive the basics of
stable health. It impacts the ability of people in our
community to be productive, to be with their kids,
to live and interact on a daily basis with people who
have advantages. It’s a divisive factor in urban life.
Q: Despite that, the issue of disparities is one that
few urban healthcare institutions have tried to
address. What is prompting the university to make
this a key component in its future?
The new University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System has four key emphases as it moves forward:
Innovative Researchresearch is a cornerstone of the University
of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System.
By combining resources, the health system
has the opportunity to extend studies
with community research. “The healthcare
landscape is changing,” says garcia. “The
challenge is adapting to these changes.”
UI Health System personnel frequently join researchers at the University
of Illinois’ champaign-Urbana campus in studying population health and
biochemical illnesses. The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences
System is recognized in research of alternative medicine, cancer biology,
drug development, genomics and infectious diseases, among other
areas, and the university is a magnet for graduate study. Among the
greatest beneficiaries of this innovative research are members of
our community.
Personalized HealthBecause no two patients are the same, the
researchers and specialists at the health
system work together to give everyone the
individualized care they deserve. personalized
care is determined by the patient’s genetic
makeup and lifestyle. In the long run, studies
in personalized treatment—for Alzheimer’s
disease, diabetes, obesity and more—can help to lower drug costs and
increase research funding.
Addressing Disparities“we saw the opportunity to bring resources
together to successfully address healthcare
disparities,” says garcia. “Health disparities
are a problem that has been recognized for
decades—without any significant progress.
Being in this community, being a research
institution and having a public charter, we are
in a position to actually make a difference in reducing health disparities
in our patients and community.”
Health Sciences EducationIn addition to its innovative care and research,
the health system provides access to health
education for young people from diverse
backgrounds so they can become leaders,
researchers and care providers—another
way the health system is addressing health
disparities. The health system is comprised
of seven colleges: Medicine, Applied Health Sciences, Dentistry,
Pharmacy, Nursing, the School of Public Health, as well as the Jane
Addams College of Social Work. with the largest college of medicine in
the nation, the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System is
changing the future of medicine for students and the patients they serve.
A: we are the foremost training site for health
professionals (across all disciplines—physicians,
nurses, dentists, pharmacists, therapists, etc.)
for the entire state. Our transplant programs
consistently rate highest in both case complex-
ity and outcome (survival) statistics. Our oral
health providers take care of more children
than almost all other dentists statewide. we
have the only dedicated center for adults with
sickle cell disease in the Midwest.
Q: In uniting all these colleges and
departments under one umbrella, is one of
your goals to eliminate the “silo” effect?
A: As the state’s flagship health center, we
have an obligation to improve the health and
the well-being of all citizens, regardless of their
socio-economic status. The current health-
care system has marginalized folks who do not
always have the means to access quality care. In
addition, all too often racial and ethnic minori-
ties are also disproportionately affected by the
current care delivery system. we are here for
all of these people and believe we can make a
difference in improving the quality and reducing
the cost of healthcare for all Illinoisans.
Q: Have other medical schools/academic
medical centers attempted to translate their
research into clinical treatment of diverse
communities to the extent that you envision?
Do you see this as a way to enhance the health
system’s reputation nationally?
A: plenty of academic medical centers are
talking about reducing health disparities in
their communities. The simple fact, however, is
that disease frequency and death rates among
minorities and the poor are getting worse, not
better. So, no, I do not see others making the
type of mission statement and commitment of
resources that we are undertaking here at the
University of Illinois. And yes, our success in this
endeavor will put us on the national stage be-
cause if we can even slightly reverse the disease
and death rates among the population we serve
right here in chicago, that will force others
across the country to take notice as to what can
be possible.
Q: At other medical schools around the country,
the reputation of the health system is well-
established. But in the general community, what
are some key strengths of the University of Il-
linois that may not be widely known?
12 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
History of the University of Illinois Hospital1881
college of physicians
and Surgeons (p &S)
incorporated as the
seventh medical
school in chicago,
located across from
entrance of cook
county Hospital.
1907
p &S faculty
open 110-bed
hospital at
Ogden, Lincoln
(wolcott) and
congress.
1913
p &S
becomes
University
of Illinois
college of
Medicine.
1924
first building
opens of
the 50-bed
University of
Illinois research
& Education
Hospital on
polk, wolcott
and wood.
1940
Illinois general
Assembly
creates Illinois
Medical
District.
rush and
presbyterian
share facilities
with college.
1965
Eye and Ear
Infirmary
building
opens on
Taylor St.
1970
State mandates
rural-health
initiative; college
of Medicine
at peoria site
opens.
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 13
September 2011
The University of
Illinois Medical center
and seven health
sciences colleges
are integrated to
create the University
of Illinois Hospital
& Health Sciences
System.
1971
college of
Medicine
campuses
in Urbana–
champaign
and rockford
open.
1980
UIc Hospital
opens at
1740 w.
Taylor St.
1982
college of Medicine
and University
of Illinois chicago
circle campus
merge to
form UIc.
1989
UIc Hospital
and Michael
reese Hospital
agreement
unfolds.
1999
Outpatient
care center
opens on
Taylor St.
June 2011
4th and 5th
floors of hospital
are designated
by NAcHrI
as children’s
Hospital
University of
Illinois.
A: Absolutely! The deans of the University of
Illinois health sciences colleges are unanimous
in their support for the “power of one.”
collectively, we realize that our ability to improve
community health, make a difference in the lives
of each individual patient and deliver innovation
throughout the entire healthcare system will be
accomplished only by working together.
Q: What message are you trying to send to the
alumni of all these health sciences colleges as the
health sciences combine their efforts?
A: The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sci-
ences System combines the hospital, clinics and
federally qualified healthcare centers with the Uni-
versity of Illinois’ seven health sciences colleges:
Medicine, Nursing, pharmacy, Dentistry, Applied
Health Sciences, School of public Health and the
Jane Addams college of Social work. No other
health care provider in chicago or the state brings
together leading educators and researchers across
the health sciences to combine innovative research
with the delivery of advanced patient care.
Q: You’ve mentioned a desire for the various
campuses throughout the state to work more
closely together. What are some ways you hope to
achieve that?
A: This is happening already. for example, in
mid-November, the center for Medicare and
Medicaid Services issued a three-year, $1 billion
funding announcement for demonstration projects
that improve patient care and reduce the cost
associated with the federal Medicare, Medicaid
and children’s Health Insurance programs.
The “cMS Innovation challenge” provided an
opportunity for an extraordinary level of cross-
college collaboration to develop four proposals
that we believe will improve the outcomes and
efficiency of our healthcare enterprise.
JOE g.N. “SKIp” gArcIA, MD
‘‘ ‘‘No other institution in the Midwest has anything close to the strength of these seven units, which are now working together in a way they never have before.
14 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
AILy INSULIN INJEcTIONS didn’t prevent Judith-rae ross from frequently having medical crises brought on by her diabetes.
A retired history professor who taught
at one time at the University of Illinois’ chicago
campus, ross experienced severe drops in her
blood sugar levels that sometimes caused her to
experience hallucinations or lose consciousness.
“I was a frequent flyer in the emergency
room,” says ross, 67, who in recent years had
come to expect that her diabetes soon would
lead to her death.
On feb. 26, 2009, ross underwent an
experimental treatment for diabetes at the
University of Illinois Hospital. A team led by José
Oberholzer, MD, chief of transplant surgery and
director of cell and pancreas transplantation at
the UI Hospital, transplanted insulin-producing
islet cells into ross’ bloodstream. She quickly
began tapering off her insulin injections, stop-
ping them altogether by mid-April of 2009.
She hasn’t needed them since. what’s
more, her eyesight and learning abilities have
improved. “It’s allowing me to really enjoy and
appreciate life for the first time,” she says. “I
don’t have the words to thank Dr. Oberholzer
and his team. They have given me my life back.”
The chicago Diabetes project, an inter-
national research effort led by Oberholzer and
based at the University of Illinois Hospital &
Health Sciences System, has been advancing the
use of islet cell transplant in the hope of making
it available to more patients like ross. Launched
in 2005, the project enlists experts in research in-
stitutions around the globe, including physicians,
molecular biologists, engineers and chemists.
Diabetes is a chronic disease caused by
a lack of insulin, a hormone produced in the
pancreas that regulates blood glucose (sugar)
levels in the body. The world Diabetes founda-
tion estimates that 285 million people were living
with diabetes in 2010, and that the number would
grow to 438 million by 2030.
The chicago Diabetes project currently is
focusing its efforts on patients with type 1 diabe-
tes, such as ross, whose insulin-producing cells
have been destroyed by a malfunctioning immune
system. To survive, they must take insulin injec-
tions several times a day.
“They are the most urgent cases, the easi-
est to cure and the most justifiable to take the
risk involved in treatment, because they have the
higher rate of diabetes-related complications,”
Oberholzer says.
Eventually, though, he hopes to make islet
cell transplants available to treat type 2 diabetes,
which occurs when the pancreas doesn’t produce
enough insulin or the body doesn’t use it effec-
tively. Treatable with diet modifications, exercise
and glucose-lowering pills, it’s more manage-
able than type 1 diabetes. It’s also the far more
common form of diabetes, comprising 90 to 95
percent of all diabetes cases.
How it worksTHE TrANSpLANT prOcESS BEgINS with sci-
entists in Oberholzer’s laboratory extracting islet
DINSULIN
INDEpENDENcEIslet cell project breakthrough for difficult diabetes cases
By Kevin McKeough
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 15
pH
OT
O: L
LO
yD
DE
gr
AN
E
16 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
cells from the pancreas of a deceased organ
donor. first the donor pancreas is emulsified
through the combined use of chemicals and
heat, then it’s run through a centrifuge, which
separates the islet cells from the rest of the
organ. Between 300,000 and 600,000 cells
typically are extracted, compared with the
estimated half a million to 1.5 million cells that a
healthy pancreas harbors.
During the transplant procedure, the
cells are flowed into the recipient’s body
through a tube passed through a small incision
and threaded into a vein in the liver (chosen
because it has a better blood supply than the
pancreas). In most cases, the cells begin doing
what the donor recipient’s body could not on
its own—generate insulin that maintains blood
glucose at healthy levels.
The project began performing islet cell
transplants—all of which take place at the UI
Hospital—in 2005. By the end of that year, the
project completed a combined phase I and II
clinical trial demonstrating both the safety and
efficacy of the procedure based on the results
of the first 10 transplant recipients.
Since then a total of 25 patients have
receive transplants, and the vast majority have
remained insulin-free. The small number of pa-
tients receiving the transplants reflects another
key obstacle the project is trying to overcome:
the project’s very limited finances and the very
small number of available donor pancreata
(plural of pancreas), which averages around a
mere 6,000 each year. “Even if we could use
every single organ that can be used in the
United States, we would be limited to 1,500
transplants a year,” Oberholzer says.
Therefore, researchers with the chicago
Diabetes project are trying to find ways to
grow islet cells. collaborators at the cleveland
clinic and at Johns Hopkins are investigating
genes in mice that regulate how stem cells
develop into insulin-producing cells.
reflecting the project’s collaborative
nature, Oberholzer arranged for the chicago
Diabetes project to fund a postdoctoral fellow
to work in the lab of a Johns Hopkins University
expert on pancreatic cancer whose research in
pancreas stem cells had relevance to the proj-
ect’s efforts. The fellow found that certain stem
cells will cluster together and under the right
conditions produce insulin.
An international effortLIKE OrgAN TrANSpLANT pATIENTS, islet
cell recipients must take immunosuppressive
medication to prevent their immune systems
from attacking the transplanted islet cells,
which it recognizes as foreign to the recipients’
body. Since these medications have side
effects and leave patients at risk for illness, the
chicago Diabetes project is pursuing a means
of encapsulating islet cells, that is, coating them
with protective molecules that can withstand
the immune system’s attacks, rendering
immunosuppressants unnecessary.
Such vastly complex pursuits require
highly specialized knowledge and abilities,
which is why the project enlists experts at six
sites outside chicago. researchers at the Nor-
wegian University of Science and Technology in
Trondheim, Norway, for example, have worked
for five decades studying alginate, the molecule
the project is using to protect islet cells, and
the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava,
Slovakia, has one and a half buildings dedicated
to studying encapsulation technology.
In all, about 50 scientists are participating
in the project, plus support staff and volunteers.
In chicago, Oberholzer has a team of 20,
including five assistant professors working in
his laboratory, plus postdoctoral fellows, phD
students and technicians.
The project holds immense promise,
but its potential is being held back by funding
Chicago Leads Global TeamThe chicago Diabetes
project enlists clinical
and basic science
researchers at the
following sites around
the world:
cleveland clinic,
cleveland, Ohio
Johns Hopkins
University,
Baltimore, Md.
Norwegian University
of Science and
Technology,
Trondheim, Norway
Slovak Academy
of Sciences,
Bratislava, Slovakia
University of geneva,
Switzerland
University of Illinois
at chicago
University of Lille,
france
LEfT TO rIgHT: Grateful patients Bruno Pasquinelli and Janette leal with José oberholzer and UI surgery Head Enrico Benedetti
constraints, reflecting what Oberholzer says
is a widespread difficulty that researchers are
having in obtaining funding. In its entirety,
the chicago Diabetes project operates on an
annual budget of less than $2 million, compared
with the $13 million annually that Oberholzer
estimates the project would need to fully realize
its potential. “There are many experiments that
we know we have to do, and we know how to
do them, we just can’t do them with the limited
means we have,” he says.
The project receives about a third of its
funding from grants from the National Institutes
of Health and additional funding from the U of
I, but relies mostly on support from charitable
foundations. It was begun with a grant from
chicago-based washington Square Health
foundation, whose executive director, Howard
Nochumson, encouraged Oberholzer to begin
the project.
Since then, the project has received
major support from the christopher family
foundation in Hinsdale.
“we’re incredibly encouraged by the
quality of life improvement being experienced
by so many type 1-afflicted individuals due to
the work of the chicago project,” says Kelley
christopher Schueler, executive director of
the foundation.
The project also has received support
from the Juvenile Diabetes research founda-
tion, the American Diabetes foundation, the
Dr. Scholl foundation, Tellabs foundation,
the Efroymson family fund and a number of
smaller foundations.
Marathon fundraisingTHE wOrK ALSO HAS DEVELOpED an un-
conventional source of funding in the form of
cellmates on the run, a group of volunteers
that runs the chicago Marathon and/or New
york Marathon each year and enlists pledges of
support from family and friends. All the money
they raise goes to the project. In its first three
years, the effort has enlisted more than 600
runners and raised more than $500,000.
Oberholzer, an avid runner, takes part
in both the chicago and New york races and
this year also is running the Boston Marathon,
placing him among the elite group who have
qualified for the highly competitive event.
Other chicago Diabetes project researchers
and members of Oberholzer’s lab team also
have donned the team jersey to participate in
the races. The project’s annual meeting takes
place the week after the chicago Marathon,
so members of the global research team are
in town to cheer on the runners and join in the
post-race party at the race site.
further complicating the funding picture
is the status of islet cell transplant as an exper-
imental procedure not covered by insurance,
which means the chicago Diabetes project
itself must cover the approximately $100,000
required for each trial participant ($30,000 for
the procedure and the rest in follow-up costs).
The project is in the process of submitting an
application to the U.S. food and Drug Admin-
istration to have islet cell transplant recognized
as a standard of care, which will allow it to be
covered by insurance. Oberholzer hopes to
submit by the end of 2012 and receive approval
within a year—during which time the cDp will
have to ramp up from a research program to a
full-fledged clinical care service.
“The UI Hospital likely would become the
first center in the U.S. to offer this treatment
as a standard of care,” Oberholzer says. “we
have been a leader in moving this treatment
toward being put into widespread use, and
I look forward to the day when we can offer
islet cell transplant widely to the large number
of diabetic patients whose lives would be
improved and, in many cases, saved by this
treatment.”
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 17
The process of extracting islet cells is a complicated one. First, the donor pancreas is emulsified and then run through a centrifuge, which separates the islet cells from the rest of the organ. Between 300,000 and 600,000 islets are typically extracted during the process.
pHOTOS: BArT HArrIS
Health systemteams up
with the Bernie Mac Foundation to search for a cure for sarcoidosis
TUrNINg LAUgHS INTO LIfE SAVErS
18 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
ErNIE MAc wAS a beloved
entertainer and a chicago na-
tive whose knack for generat-
ing laughter stood in poignant
contrast to his concurrent suf-
fering from a mystifying chronic
disease. More than three years
after his death from complica-
tions of sarcoidosis, a founda-
tion named for him is partner-
ing with the University of Illinois
Hospital & Health Sciences System to demystify
that disease and lend some star quality to the
system’s efforts to discover a cure.
Details of the public partnership were
announced in April, which was Sarcoidosis
Awareness Month, says Nadera Sweiss, MD,
lead researcher in the sarcoidosis program at
the University of Illinois. It’s the culmination of
nearly two years of talks with top executives of
the Bernie Mac foundation, who were drawn to
the campus collaboration by both expertise and
inspiration.
Sweiss, a specialist in rheumatology, had
developed a practice in chicago centered on
treating people with sarcoidosis, a disease of
unknown etiology that attacks multiple organs
but most often the lungs and lymph nodes. It
disproportionately affects African-Americans,
who constitute more than 90 percent of her
patients. So there was a lot for those patients to
identify with as Bernie Mac fought the disease
from onset in 1983 until his death at age 50
in 2008.
“His death was devastating to a lot of my
patients,” says Sweiss. “They would come to me
and say, ‘Am I going to die the same way Bernie
Mac died? why did Bernie Mac die?’”
In 2010 Sweiss called the Bernie Mac
foundation’s executive director, Mary Ann gros-
sett, the older sister of the comedian’s wife of
30 years, rhonda Mccullough. They discussed
how they were engaged in the same push for
both awareness of the disease and a clear plan
to unlock its mystery and thus point the way to
productive treatment.
Sweiss unveiled the imagery of a “star
center” at the University of Illinois, which
would incorporate Bernie Mac’s star quality
as well as an acronymic identity: Sarcoidosis
Translational Advanced research. for gros-
sett, it wasn’t just what Sweiss said but the
way she said it. A like-minded relationship
“started immediately when I picked up the
phone,” she says.
“what stuck out in my mind about Dr.
Sweiss was her pure honesty and her being
connected personally to what she does. I im-
mediately saw and felt from her a sincerity that
was beyond her being a doctor—I saw a real
compassion and truthfulness in her,” grossett
remembers. “we began to communicate like
we had known each other all of our lives.”
That warm inspiration spread quickly
to Mccullough. “when the opportunity came
up that we would be able to work with the
University of Illinois, for me it was like a dream
come true,” she says. “I always wanted to
partner with a world-renowned facility—they
had the means, they had the pulmonologists in
place, it was just wonderful. And, to me, their
focus just kind of mirrored mine.”
Star power for the STAR programESTABLISHINg THE rESEArcH program also
was a dream come true for Sweiss, who fol-
lows 400 sarcoidosis patients in her practice
along with 200 living with scleroderma, another
disease of unknown origin that attacks healthy
tissue. Before coming to the University of Illinois
from the University of chicago, she had initi-
ated three interrelated studies into sarcoidosis,
including the use of drugs to inhibit tumor
necrosis, which plays a role in the disease. She
developed a reputation as an expert in these
disorders that drew patients regionally and
nationally.
TUrNINg LAUgHS INTO LIfE SAVErS
By John Morrissey
BWorking with the University of Illinois is “like a dream come true.” — rHONDA MccULLOUgH
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 19
Rhonda McCullough (from left), who was married to Bernie Mac for 30 years before his death, at the premiere of the documentary with nadera sweiss and skip Garcia, VP for Health Affairs
pH
OT
O: D
ON
AL
D B
Ar
gE
In the Bernie Mac foundation, the STAr
program gains a powerful source of funding
and visibility that first became apparent amid
the tragic news of the entertainer’s declining
health in 2008. Bernie Mac had established the
foundation himself a year earlier, intending to
make it a priority alongside his acting career.
Donations started pouring in as news of his
ultimately unsuccessful battle with pneumonia
played out, says Mccullough.
More money came in after his death,
“but I really wasn’t ready to do anything with it
just yet, because it took me awhile to grieve,”
she says. Nearly two years went by. “At first I
thought about not continuing the foundation,
and then I realized that this was the last thing
he was working on and this is a great way to
continue his legacy. So that’s when I took over
the reins.”
Attaching the foundation’s goals to a
celebrity’s name “allows us to reach a wider
audience,” says grossett, “and people are just
more naturally curious because it’s the Bernie
Mac foundation.”
Family involvementgrOwINg Up as Bernard Jeffrey Mccullough,
the man who would become Bernie Mac met
rhonda at chicago Vocational High School on
the city’s South Side. “we met him when he
was 16 years old,” says grossett. “And so when
you know someone that long, he becomes your
brother.”
The legacy issue is not just a cliché. All of
Mac’s family is involved in the foundation, and
chicago is their home. The foundation “was tru-
ly where his head was; he wanted to leave the
world with something that he felt would make
a difference. I know he felt like he had made a
difference in the entertainment world, and he
had done all that he could do in that arena,”
grossett says. “But for sarcoidosis he wanted to
leave his mark there, something that could be
carried on, even in his passing.”
As the foundation found out more about
the approach and aims of the STAr program, it
latched onto the underlying theme of personal-
ized care. The personalization includes both the
clinical and humanistic needs of each patient
and the family that gathers around. for patients
stricken with a chronic disease, says grossett,
there’s a toll on the person physically, financially
and mentally, as the Mccullough family lived
through for years. “The medical team is inter-
ested in treating the patient holistically.”
It’s also a medical and research theme,
says Sweiss. “As a disease, sarcoidosis affects
almost every single system in the body; it most
commonly affects the lungs, so it’s most com-
monly taken care of by lung specialists, but the
patient may end up in the eye clinic, or in the
gastrointestinal clinic, because of the nature
of the disease.” Sweiss, still rare in the field as
a specialist in inflammatory diseases, is taking
a multidisciplinary approach to evaluating the
disease in a systemic way. Each patient, with
individualized aspects of sarcoidosis, will provide
a piece of the puzzle and a bit of the solution as
bedside clinicians work with lab researchers and
geneticists to combine expertise and move more
quickly to treatment options.
A day at the universityfOUNDATION MEMBErS spent a day at the
hospital and its research facilities to get a tour
and learn about the history of the disease and
the STAr team assembled to target it—including
Vice president for Health Affairs Joe g.N. “Skip”
garcia, MD, with his eminent background in
translational research, and rick Kittles, phD, with
a track record of discovering the role of genetics
in disease, especially in racial minorities.
Among garcia’s contributions to
sarcoidosis research is a collaborative effort to
establish a biobank to enable studies of genomic
associations between DNA and diseases. Sweiss,
a clinician and teacher as well as a researcher,
has leveraged her experience to create
The image above shows the inflammation commonly found in the lungs and other organs of sarcoidosis patients. In sarcoidosis, immune cells cluster to form a granuloma—inflamed cells that have replaced normal tissue.
20 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
guidelines to plug the gap in available clinical
trial data, including algorithms to manage
bone issues and rheumatic manifestations of
sarcoidosis.
Impressed with the science as well as
alignment with the foundation’s own mission
statement, “I think it’s safe to say that after
that first meeting, we were signed, sealed and
delivered,” says grossett. “There was a sense
of comfort, a sense of trust on both parts. we
were in the right place, at the right time, talking
to the right people.”
“They’re going to help us to keep up
awareness of the disease sarcoidosis with the
public,” says Mccullough, “and it will also help
to allow treatment for patients and their fami-
lies, because families need an understanding of
the disease, too, for their loved ones.”
Driven by the continuing need for medi-
cal discovery—the food and Drug Adminis-
tration still has no approved treatments—the
University of Illinois is grateful for the founda-
tion partnership, says Sweiss. “Sarcoidosis
patients really need a star in their lives; we live
in the darkness with this disease, as physicians,
because we don’t know what is the best way to
treat this disease.”
gaining the star quality of Bernie Mac will
help accelerate the process. Even before the
official inking of the partnership, the foundation
held a fundraising gala in January to coincide
with the red-carpet premiere screening of a
tribute to the entertainer’s life, titled, “I Ain’t
Scared of you,” that later aired on comedy cen-
tral. garcia and Sweiss made short speeches
about the program as part of ceremonies at
the Showplace Icon Theater in chicago’s South
Loop neighborhood prior to the screening.
Associating the Bernie Mac name with a
program destined to have a worldwide reach
is the ultimate tribute to the man, says his wife.
“Bernie was an international star, and the health
system will welcome patients from around the
world. So to me that makes them an interna-
tional star.
“I actually believe this was Bernie’s
dream, and I do believe it exceeds what he
thought could be accomplished.”
Nadera Sweiss (above): “As a disease, sarcoidosis affects almost every single system in the body.”
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 21
MAgINE SpENDINg LESS TIME in the dental
chair while also getting higher-quality care—
thanks to dental students, faculty and gradu-
ates using the latest-generation equipment
and technology.
That is the expected outcome after the
University of Illinois Hospital & Health Scienc-
es System’s college of Dentistry completes a
$22-million renovation of its clinical facilities.
Scheduled for completion in early 2015,
the project will modernize all of the school’s
clinics, comprised of 300 patient-treatment rooms,
or operatories. The school has clinics for predoc-
toral degree students, which is a four-year process,
and postdoctoral students, who receive additional
training in dental specialties.
The new clinics will include various den-
tal equipment such as leading-edge high-speed
handpieces, suctioning equipment, operating
microscopes, surgical lighting, state-of-the-science
hygiene and cleaning instruments, and advanced
water-treatment systems. Digital radiography will
replace film-based X-rays, and the digital images
will become part of each patient’s permanent elec-
tronic dental record. chairs and cabinetry also will
be replaced. “green” technology will provide more
light with less heat and superior quality water.
To allow room for more students to observe,
some surgical suites will be larger and the layout of
equipment will be rearranged.
The new clinics will be located on the first
three floors of the dental school, encompassing
what will be known as the Integrated clinical
Technology center.
“This is critical to ensuring that our students
are getting a state-of-the-science education in
patient care. when they graduate, they are going
to be fully prepared to make sure their patients
receive the benefits of that technology,” Bruce S.
graham, DDS, dean of the dental school, says,
noting that the current facilities are nearly 40
years old.
The college will standardize on equipment
and technology primarily from the KaVo group in
charlotte, N.c. It also will be involved in testing new
KaVo products, giving students access to the latest-
generation dental technology for years to come.
The dental school’s patients will benefit,
too. Using the new equipment and technology,
students and faculty will be able to diagnose and
treat patients more efficiently. “More efficient
means, in theory, less time in a dental chair—we all
like that as a patient,” says David M. clark, DDS, the
dental school’s associate dean for clinical affairs.
One example: root canals. Through a com-
bination of high-speed handpieces, surgical
microscopes and digital imaging, dental students
and faculty will sometimes be able to complete
the procedure in one appointment, as opposed
to multiple appointments, as overall efficiency is
improved by the new technology.
The new equipment will be more reliable,
which also will increase efficiency. In the old clinics,
“there are constant breakdowns and repairs that
have to be taken care of,” clark says.
Improved efficiency also will help the college
increase access to dental care among low-income
patients. “we are the largest dental safety-net
clinic in Northern Illinois and maybe in the whole
state. If we can see patients more time-efficiently,
that means we can take care of more people who
desperately need our care,” graham says.
The college provides $2.3 million in
uncompensated patient care annually. It also is
a major provider of dental services to Medicaid
beneficiaries. Nearly half, or 46 percent, of the
dental school’s patients are Medicaid recipients.
The renovation of the college’s clinical
space was supported through the Brilliant Futures:
Educating the new Dentist for America capital
campaign, which has raised more than $37 million.
Among those gifts was the largest-ever single
donation to the college: an $8.2 million gift from
the guy D. and rebecca E. Brunetti foundation,
a private grant-making philanthropy in Arlington
Heights, Ill. The foundation’s gift is in the form of
equipment and technology, graham said.
“Helping to provide the resources to renew
the clinical facilities was the right thing to do. The
value of a professional education cannot be under-
estimated and, consequently, its value to society
cannot be overestimated,” says robert g. Brunetti,
DDS, a dentist who is president of the foundation
named after his parents. “we truly share the vision
$22 million renovation will have College of Dentistry ready for the futureSMILES ALL ArOUND
By linda Wilson
I
22 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
pIcTUrED ABOVE: Dr. Robert Brunetti (left) and Dr. Bruce Graham, dean (right), offer each other congratulations after signing the agreement for the $8.2 million donation by the Brunetti Foundation to the College of Dentistry. In the back are Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dr. Bill Knight (left) and Vicente Reynal of KaVo.
OppOSITE pAgE: A young patient receives treatment in the updated Pediatric Dental Clinic.
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 2 3
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and mission of the college in its goal to educate
and create ‘Brilliant futures’ for the dentist of to-
morrow and have supported this mission for over a
decade.”
Brunetti also is the chief executive officer of
procare Dental group pc, which operates 14 den-
tal offices in the chicago metropolitan area.
“we used to rely upon graduates from all
three schools in Northern Illinois to associate
with us and practice in our offices and serve our
growing patient
base,” Brunetti
says. “But once
both Loyola
and Northwest-
ern universities
closed their
dental schools,
we relied solely
upon the college
of Dentistry at
the University of
Illinois to fulfill
our growing need
for associates.”
Dentures make way for implantsprOcArE DENTAL also donated $1 million to
pay for construction of the procare Dental group
Implant and Innovation center, while the Brunetti
foundation donated another $1 million to endow
two full professorships at the center.
“Hopefully our gift and the many generous
gifts of others will spur more people to support
the future of our profession and our society,”
Brunetti adds.
One feature of the future of dentistry may be
the disappearance of dentures, and the renovation
at the school takes that into consideration, too.
Dental implants are artificial but have permanent
roots to hold replacement teeth. Implants are
“probably the biggest shift in dentistry,” and
could eventually replace dentures, graham says.
“The only barrier right now is cost. It is certainly
preferable to denture treatment,” he added.
To create the implant center, “we took an
unused space on the third floor of the building and
repurposed it,” graham says. The facility includes
12 operatories and classroom space. The admin-
istrative offices of the department of restorative
dentistry are located nearby.
patients already are receiving care in the
implant center, which is nearly complete.
In addition to the Dental Implant and
Innovation center, the doctoral-degree pediatric
dentistry clinic and the postdoctoral orthodontic
clinics also have been renovated.
The 2,500-square-foot Delta Dental of
Illinois predoctoral pediatric Dentistry clinic has
14 operatories, including specialized areas for
special-needs patients and a quiet room for infant
oral care. piped-in nitrous oxide, for sedation, and
digital imaging are available in each unit.
A diversity of strengthsThe new orthodontic clinic has 27 dental chairs,
up from 17 in the old clinic. The move allows each
postgraduate student in orthodontics to have a
dedicated chair. The orthodontic renovation also
includes a computer and imaging laboratory with
34 computers and web conferencing capabilities,
re-equipping of classrooms and office renovation.
The dental school has clinics in other dental
specialties as well: endodontics (tooth pulp and
nerves), periodontics (gums and soft tissues),
pediatric dentistry, prosthodontics/restorative
dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery.
The school also operates three
multispecialty group practices, comprised
of 150 operatories. The group practices are
staffed mainly with third- and fourth-year dental
students, although second-year students provide
some care as well. first-year students primarily
observe. faculty—both general dentists and
specialists—oversee each student’s clinical work.
“The student is responsible to oversee and
manage all of the care for the patient. Now, they
don’t provide all of the care because sometimes
these patients have to be referred to a specialty
clinic, but they are involved in managing those
consultations,” clark says.
The multispecialty group practices re-
placed separate doctoral-degree specialty clinics
in 2002. The group practices, which mimic private
practices, were created as part of an evolution
in the approach to education, emphasizing more
hands-on clinical training and fewer classroom
lectures. The move also has allowed the college
to treat more underserved patients. currently, the
college provides 90,000 patient visits per year.
The addition of new technology will further
enhance what the dental school can do for both
students and patients.
“we are already getting feedback from
students: they can’t wait to use this new
equipment,” clark says.
The dental school
has clinics in
other dental
specialties as
well: endodontics,
periodontics,
pediatric dentistry,
prosthodontics/
restorative
dentistry and oral
and maxillofacial
surgery.
24 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
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Low-fat diet a key to cardiovascular health?wEIgHT LOSS ALONE may
not reduce the risk for adverse
cardiovascular events. Shane
phillips, pT, phD, at the college
of Applied Health Sciences,
and his colleagues investigated
dietary factors that might be as-
sociated with improved brachial
artery flow-mediated dilation.
Improved fMD reduces the
risk of adverse cardiovascular
events, however, prior research
has been conflicting in isolating
the dietary factors that impact
fMD. phillips randomly assigned
participants who were obese to
one of two six-week diets: high
fat or low fat. Both groups expe-
rienced weight loss, but only the
low-fat group also experienced
a decrease in fat mass and waist
circumference. And, only the
low-fat group also experienced
fMD improvements. Taken
together, these results suggest
that weight loss alone may not
improve cardiovascular health
and that a low-fat diet is key to
reducing one’s risk.
Personalized dosages can improve coagulation outcomes AfrIcAN-AMErIcANS are at
higher risk than caucasians for
poor outcomes as a result of
subtherapeutic anticoagula-
tion, which is associated with
greater stroke-related disability
and higher mortality rates from
stroke and pulmonary embo-
lism. Thus, achieving optimal
anticoagulation efficiently is
particularly important for Afri-
can-Americans. Larisa caval-
lari, pharmD, a faculty member
in the college of pharmacy,
and her colleagues investigated
ggcX (glutamyl carboxylase,
an enzyme associated with
how Vitamin K is metabolized).
Specifically, they sought to dis-
cover whether ggcX mutations
were associated with changes
in dosage requirements. In
this study, African-Americans
were more likely to exhibit the
specific mutations of ggcX,
and among participants in
the study who were African-
American, the mutations of
ggcX were overrepresented
among those who required
higher doses of warfarin, which
is a blood thinner. This sug-
gests that patients who have
mutations of ggcX may require
higher dosages of warfarin and
gives some guidance in terms
of determining the optimal
dosage of warfarin in order to
improve patient outcomes.
Glycemic variability impacts mood, quality of lifeDiabetes is a chronic condi-
tion that significantly impacts
quality of life. poor glycemic
control is associated with
more diabetes complications,
depression and worse quality
of life. carol ferrans, MS, phD,
rN, fAAN, a professor in the
college of Nursing, and her
colleagues examined whether
glycemic variability had an ef-
fect on mood and quality of life
among women with diabetes.
ferrans found that among
women with diabetes, greater
glycemic variability was associ-
ated with lower quality of life
and negative moods.
Personalized approach aids older adults with osteoarthritisSUSAN HUgHES, DSw, DO,
of the School of public Health,
and her colleagues recruited
600 people to participate in an
eight-week “fit and Strong!”
exercise intervention to study
osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis
is the most common condition
affecting older people today. It
is the leading cause of disabil-
ity among older people and its
impact is projected to increase
substantially with the aging of
the U.S. population. Although
there have been multiple ran-
domized trials investigating the
efficacy of different exercise in-
terventions among older adults,
few have looked at longer term
adherence and outcomes, and
extant research has shown
mixed results. After the inter-
vention by Hughes’ team, partic-
ipants were randomized into one
of two maintenance conditions
(individualized maintenance and
program-based maintenance).
participants who were in the
individualized maintenance
program had greater adher-
ence, self-efficacy and improved
functional status compared
with those in program-based
maintenance. This suggests that
adherence to an exercise regime
for older adults with osteoar-
thritis is more successful when
the program is tailored to the
individual.
Does oxytocin reduce symptoms in schizophrenia? LEAH rUBIN, phD, faculty in
psychiatry, and colleagues have
examined hormonal contributors
to cognitive performance and
symptom severity in schizophre-
nia. In a study of women and men
with schizophrenia, they found
that higher levels of oxytocin in
women were associated with a
decrease in positive symptoms
(such as delusions, hallucinations,
disorganized behaviors) sever-
ity and an increase in prosocial
behaviors. This study provides
support for new clinical interven-
tion studies of oxytocin and the
potential oxytocin has for im-
proving symptoms and affective
states in schizophrenia.
Framework offers personalized health care for midlife womenLAB TESTS cAN’T yet tell
women if they are menopausal.
Therefore pauline Maki, phD,
faculty member in psychiatry,
and a panel of experts from five
countries met in 2011 to review
reproductive staging research
and to change how menopausal
stage is determined (e.g., wheth-
er someone is perimenopausal).
The panel created recommen-
dations for the identification of
menopausal stages in order to
help clinicians predict when a
woman will enter menopause and
to guide the selection of treat-
26 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
KEy fINDINgS
ment options for menopausal
symptoms and other related
conditions. The framework,
named STrAw +10, created by
the panel, will help physicians
and researchers systematically
and consistently identify the
different reproductive stages
women go through from ado-
lescence to menopause and
beyond. further, it will improve
comparability between re-
search on midlife women and
is expected to facilitate clinical
decision-making.
Promising future for tooth regeneration INVESTIgATOrS IN the Brodie
Laboratory for craniofacial
genetics, directed by Tom Die-
kwisch, DMD, phD, a professor
and head of oral biology in the
college of Dentistry, have been
doing research in the area of re-
generative dentistry, which has
the potential to enable people
to maintain their own teeth for
longer and to reduce the need
for dentures. Diekwisch and his
colleagues have grown stem
cells from the periodontal liga-
ment of rats’ molars. They then
seeded the cells on barren rat
molars, and reinserted the teeth
into the animals’ tooth sockets.
In two to four months, the stem
cells aligned and formed new
fibrous attachments between
tooth and bone as compared
with molars replanted without
stem cells that were either lost
or loosely attached.
Cell migration provides insight into tumor metastasisUNDErSTANDINg HOw and
why cancers metastasize is
crucial to halting the spread of
tumors. Krishna Kumar Veera-
valli, phD, and colleagues at the
college of Medicine at peoria
studied the migration of cells as
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 2 7
sium channel pathway. These
results provide insight into how
tumor cells migrate, and thus
metastasize.
BPA exposure alters prostategAIL prINS, pHD, a researcher
in urology, has found that early
exposure to extremely small
amounts of Bisphenol A, an
ingredient in many common
plastics with a similar chem-
istry to estrogen, leads to
genetic changes in the pros-
tate as it develops. Although
these changes are not yet
conclusively tied to prostate
cancer late in life, prins contin-
ues to investigate. prins is the
principal investigator on three
National Institutes of Health-
funded studies examining the
effects of early life exposure
to BpA. Her work has led her,
rather unexpectedly, to social
and political activism. Her pre-
sentation to the chicago city
council in 2009 helped influ-
ence the council to ban sales
of BpA-containing cups and
baby bottles in chicago.
a way of better understanding
tumor metastasis. To migrate,
cells must perform a complex
set of maneuvers as they
travel. To do so, they respond
to a variety of factors such as
extracellular matrix molecules
and growth factors, which
engage cell surface receptors
(such as the integrins) to initi-
ate and maintain migration.
The researchers conducted
a simultaneous knockdown
of MMp-9 and upAr/cathep-
sin B, and in doing so, they
identified a novel mechanism
of integrin-dependent glioma
cell migration (α9β1 integrin-
SSAT-Kir4.2 potassium chan-
nel pathway); α9β1 integrin-
mediated cell migration uses
SSAT and the Kir4.2 potas-
An anthropological look at maternal mortality JULIENNE rUTHErfOrD, phD,
a faculty member in the UIc col-
lege of Dentistry, and Elizabeth
Abrams, phD, a faculty member
in anthropology, used a novel
approach to understand the
underlying causes of postpartum
hemorrhage, which is the leading
cause of maternal death world-
wide and accounts for nearly
35 percent of maternal deaths.
postpartum hemorrhage is com-
mon among humans but rare
among other mammals. Abrams
and rutherford argue that the
human placenta has evolved to
become more invasive into the
uterine wall in order to increase
the flow of nutrients to the fetus.
Although this is beneficial to fetal
development, the invasiveness
of the placenta into the uterus
increases the risk of blood loss
during labor. Abrams and ruth-
erford hope that their research
can lead to the identification of
biomarkers of increased risk for
postpartum hemorrhage so that
medical care can be tailored to
the woman’s risk level.
shane Phillips works alongside a dietitian who prepares meals for a study on cardiovascular health.
pH
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S A pHySIcIAN-ScIENTIST at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, no two days are alike nor would I like them to be! I have a passion for science, for helping those in need and for
problem solving. I am grateful to have a daily
dose of all three and the opportunity to work with others to make
a difference in the health of the populations we serve.
Over the past few decades,
enormous strides have been made
in the understanding of disease and
the development of new treatment
options. Unfortunately, not all popu-
lations are benefiting from these
advances, and health disparities
remain a key challenge. Some have
difficulty getting access to high-
quality care. Some have difficulty
understanding healthcare instruc-
tions. Others cannot afford to pay
for treatments they need.
Let me give you an example.
Kendra (not her real name) is
a 68-year-old chicago woman who
was having difficulty breathing due
to asthma. She never smoked and had no environmental triggers
at home, such as dust or cigarette smoke, she said. I asked her to
bring her medications to the next clinic visit so that we could be
sure she was getting the treatment that was prescribed.
At her follow-up appointment, we realized why she had
been having trouble breathing. She had the right medicines, but
was unable to read. She admitted that she was often unsure which
medicines to take and when. She had been taking medicines
incorrectly—overusing some and underusing others. She was too
embarrassed to tell her doctors, nurses or pharmacist that she
needed help. This had been going on for years.
we reassured her and helped her remember which
medicines to use when. perhaps not surprisingly, her breathing
then improved.
four weeks later, there was a huge snowstorm. She was
able to shovel snow at her house with no difficulty at all. She even
helped her neighbor shovel snow.
we need a strategy to ensure that patients like Kendra have
access to innovations in healthcare and that we translate advances
in care into clinical routines every time. we need to increase our
emphasis on preventing illness, promoting wellness and empowering
patients to make informed decisions about their health care. This
will require teamwork—individuals, communities, clinicians, health
systems, insurers and policy makers working together. This will also
require that we think differently about how, where and when health
care is delivered.
for example, we need to embrace technology to expand the
reach of the health system into homes and communities. Innovative
applications of mobile health technology platforms would allow our
health system to more consistently intervene earlier in the course
of illness or to efficiently deploy
resources to prevent illness
altogether in the populations
we serve.
The health system is
uniquely suited to improving
population health and eliminating
health disparities. we have out-
standing clinicians, a broad base
of academic programs across
the health sciences, and partners
across the University of Illinois,
including leaders in the fields of
education, technology and health
policy. we also have a strong col-
laborative relationship with offi-
cials in the county, city, state, and
federal governments, as well as with colleagues at other institutions
in Illinois and across the nation.
I suspect that there are more people like Kendra in our clinics.
In such cases, taking the time to better understand how patients
manage their illness may be all that it takes to find a solution. No
need for special tests or more medicines. yes, others may need a dif-
ferent approach altogether. But we need a strategy for health care
that focuses on improving the health of people one person at a time.
That’s how we’ll improve population health. That’s how we’ll
eliminate health disparities.
anot all populations are benefiting from advances in healthcare.
Jerry Krishnan, MD, PhD, is associate vice president for population health sciences and professor of medicine and public health for the University of Illinois Hospital & Health sciences system.
2 8 | I l l I n o I s H e a l t H
Improving healthcare, one person at a time
B y J E r r y K r I S H N A N , M D , p H D
My pASSION
fIrSTwe were the first academic medical center in Chicago to offer femtosecond laser for cataract surgery. for 150 years,
the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary has been the leader in treating the most difficult and complex ophthalmology cases.
BESTThe University of Illinois Hospital has the best kidney and liver transplant survival rates in the city of chicago. A multidisciplinary
approach to transplant care offers patients and their families a supportive and highly successful program.
MOSTwe treat the most brain aneurysms in the state of Illinois. Health system neurosurgeons have treated more
than 1,000 brain aneurysms in the last four years.
I l l I n o I s H e a l t H | 2 9
fIrST BEST MOST
The mission of the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System
is to provide high-quality, cost-
effective health care for the
people of the state of Illinois,
to leverage leadership in
education and innovation to
deliver “personalized medicine”
to vulnerable populations and
to grow clinical programs that
are tightly linked to translational
research and are academically
distinct both regionally and
nationally.
you can reach us online at
hospital.uillinois.edu/about
or via email at
Vice president for Health Affairs Administration
914 South wood Street (M/c 973)
chicago, Illinois 60612
NONprOfIT Org.
U.S. pOSTAgE
pAID
cHIcAgO, IL
pErMIT NO. 4860