Illinois Medicine

QA 5 Questions As a professor and later head of the department of biological sciences within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Lon Kaufman, PhD, knows well the dual teaching and research missions of the College of Medicine. During his nearly two years as vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, which followed two stints in vice provost roles, the 28-year veteran of the UIC campus has gained a broader sense of how the college helps to further the mission of the university as a whole. Kaufman shared his thoughts with Illinois Medicine. 1 How does the College of Medicine reflect the mission of UIC as a whole? The college is really a microcosm of the basic mission to train students, to provide discovery in its broadest sense — basic research, translational research, entrepreneurship — and then to provide health care. You layer on top of that the mission of UIC in the city of Chicago: serving the underserved, making sure everybody has access and removing disparities. Many of our students come from the same families as our patients. 2 What makes the College of Medicine academically distinct from other medical schools? It's being in Chicago and the influence of the city in terms of diversity across the board: health care diversity, disease diversity, intellectual diversity, human diversity, economic diversity, social diversity and so on. It's also being located in multiple places across the state: Rockford, Peoria and Urbana-Champaign. Getting a physician to the patient is difficult there as well — in rural settings, it's often a helicopter that brings patient and physician together. These challenges drive discovery. They drive different ways of training. They drive people to be their best. 3 How does the student diversity that the college enjoys on an ever-greater level enhance the educational experience? Excellence and diversity are one and the same. You can't be excellent by yourself. Research and treatment require that you interact with other people. The more diverse the group you interact with, the better your ideas will be. Diversity introduces you to challenges other individuals may know about that you do not. If you don't have diversity, you only have only one point of view. 4 What does time abroad, which has become increasingly popular, offer for medical students? Time abroad teaches you self-reliance. It separates you from your main base of support. It exposes you to a different language and culture. You challenge yourself, you learn and you're more prepared the next time. A different culture approaches health care differently and approaches wellness differently. You learn how to be respectful in providing care. It's another dimensional challenge of our diversity. 5 How does the college's collaboration with other programs across the university enhance academic and research endeavors? That's intellectual diversity. That's really where discovery happens, at the interface of disciplines. The powerful nature of those interactions fuels discovery. It's the whole point of a university. The place where we see it happen most on our campus is in the institutes and centers — like the Cancer Center, the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and the Institute for Patient Safety Excellence. | Spr i n g 2 013 Photo: Diane smutny 44

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