University of Illinois Medical School

Through its educational and clinical excellence, the College of Medicine is preparing students to make important contributions to the field of medicine.

As the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, one of four campuses that make up one of the largest public medical schools in the U.S., works to create its vision for the future, it does so by building on the quality and strengths of its past. For over 40 years, the college has been shaping the best and brightest minds into the medical leaders of tomorrow. It has always taken pride in the caliber of the physician-scientists it educates, the research it conducts, and the difference that is being made in improving human health every day.

Pride

The pride of the college is in the people—the students whose talents and diverse experiences create a dynamic and engaging environment; the faculty and staff whose commitment ensures the highest quality academic, clinical, and research opportunities; and the alumni whose professional achievements and loyalty enhance the reputation of the college.

The University of Illinois is a national and global leader in education and research, attracting the highest-caliber students, faculty, and researchers from across the world.

The university has a tremendous breadth and depth of educational opportunities, with over 150 fields of study, conducting both theoretical and applied research, and providing public service to the state and nation. The Urbana campus is recognized nationally and internationally for being on the cutting edge of research and technology, establishing Illinois’ reputation as one of the nation’s premier public universities.

The College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign shares the same reputation for academic and clinical excellence as the university. Its faculty members are dedicated to ensuring that each of the college’s students receives the finest medical education experience—an experience that delivers a premier basic science education, cutting-edge research opportunities, and the highest quality clinical training.

An Interdisciplinary Focus

Both the college’s traditional four-year medical education and the Medical Scholars dual-degree programs reflect the depth of knowledge and scholarly opportunities that exist on the University of Illinois campus.

A unique integrated interdisciplinary environment exists that fosters collaboration and a commitment to excellence. This environment begins with the college faculty, most of whom hold joint appointments in other colleges and disciplines across the campus. It continues in the Medical Scholars Program, where students can pursue a joint degree in any one of over eighty different disciplines.

The variety of research and clinical interests of students and faculty are at the heart of the collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that is the hallmark of the college and the university of which it is a part.

This unique approach frames the way the college’s graduates approach their practice, resulting in a broad recognition of their excellence as researchers, clinicians, or academicians. In addition to the traditional biosciences, recent graduates have earned their degrees in fields as diverse as engineering, the humanities, and the arts. The quality of these graduates is apparent as they are selected to pursue their residency and fellowship studies by some of the nations top-ranked graduate medical education programs, including Stanford, UCLA, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins.

Progress: A Vision for the Future

The future of medicine during the 21st Century will be overwhelmingly exciting. The capability of medicine and bioscience to make a difference in the human condition will go way beyond current imaginings. The College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign seeks to be on the leading edge of the future.

As the college moves to make this vision a reality, becoming a major center for medical education and biomedical research, it is building on the strengths of the tradition of scientific inquiry and the breadth of interrelating disciplines on the Illinois campus. By strengthening and expanding the college’s and the university’s commitment to its multidisciplinary programs, not only in the basic sciences, but also to the humanities, engineering, and others; and attracting the highest quality faculty, it is on the path to becoming a preeminent center for translational research and biomedicine.

Preparation

The Urbana-Champaign campus, with its tradition of scholarly and clinical excellence, and its outstanding clinical partners, including Carle Foundation Hospital, Christie Clinic, Presence Covenant Medical Center, and the VA Illiana Health Care System, provides the highest quality academic setting for the College of Medicine. The college offers students two programs in undergraduate medical education: the traditional four-year program leading to an M.D. degree or a unique dual-degree program, the Medical Scholars Program (MSP), that leads to a combined M.D., J.D., M.B.A., or Ph.D. degree.

In addition, the college also sponsors Graduate Medical Education programs that include a residency in Internal Medicine, as well as affiliated residencies at Carle Foundation Hospital and Carle Clinic Association in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and General Surgery.

Traditional Medical Education Program

The college’s four-year program is designed to develop physician leaders for tomorrow’s challenging world of medical practice. Each year, approximately 125 students attend the Urbana campus for their first year of medical education. After the first year, 100 of the students are then assigned to the Peoria or Rockford campuses (fifty each) to complete their clinical training. The remaining students stay in Urbana for the rest of their medical education. All three campuses offer students the benefit of collaborating with renowned faculty, outstanding clinical partners, and the highest caliber student peers.