Illinois Medicine

MILE SQUARE T TO REBUILD UIC health center to erect new multipurpose facility with $12 million grant HE COLLEGE OF MEDICINE'S MILE SQUARE HEALTH CENTER has re- ceived a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser- vices to build a new, 46,000-square- foot facility in the Illinois Medical District on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. Construction should be completed in 2012 on the replacement for the current, aging build- ing. The new facility will both improve access to primary care and offer specialty care in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, ob/gyn, midwifery, mental health and dentistry. "The increased capacity will make it possible for Mile Square to be a medical home for twice as many families throughout the city of Chicago and suburbs, in addition to offering convenience care—same day and drop-in appointments," says Henry Taylor, executive director of the facility. "We anticipate 76,000 individual patient visits in its first year, including individuals newly insured under health care reform." Total construction costs are expected to be $26 million; land donated by the university helped keep project costs down, Taylor says. "We're very grateful to the board of trustees for their sup- port," he says. "Our location in the Medical District allows us to serve all the major medical centers here—Rush, UIC, Stroger and the VA—as well as serve as a Federal Quality Health Center for uninsured individuals who might otherwise end up in emergency departments." The new center also will expand teaching opportunities to medical residents who would like to learn best practices in delivering community- based care. The $12 million grant was part of HHS awards of $727 million to 143 community health centers across the country, the first round under the Affordable Care Act. S HEALING SPINAL INJURIES Umbilical stem cells may provide new hope, Peoria reseachers say PINAL CORD INJURY PATIENTS might benefit from new therapeutic methods involving stem cells from human umbilical cord blood, say researchers at the College of Medicine at Peoria. Women who deliver babies at three affiliated institutions may wish to consider donating their cord blood toward further research. The College of Medicine study, published in the March issue of the Journal of Neurotrauma, details how researchers successfully transplanted human umbilical cord blood stem cells into the spinal cords of paralyzed adult male rats. Within two weeks, the injured animals showed recovery of hind leg locomotor function. Led by Jasti S. Rao, PhD, professor and head of cancer biology and pharmacology, and Dzung Dinh, MD, professor of neurosurgery, the study puts Peoria in position to be a leader in this research, with affiliates OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, Methodist Medical Center and Proctor Hospital participating in collection and research programs. The three institutions account for approxi- mately 5,000 infant deliveries combined each year—enough to be a promising source for donations, says Peggy Mankin, the health research specialist who is managing local collection efforts. A pregnant woman who has not decided to bank her baby's cord blood might want to consider donating it for re- search, says Mankin, who notes that it's an irreplaceable source of stem cells that are being used worldwide in a great variety of medical and research applications. The College of Medicine study would never have happened without a 2004 amendment to the Illinois Hospital Licensing Act, which allowed state hospitals to offer pregnant women the option of donating unused cord blood to research facilities or public banks. I L L INOI S MEDICINE | 7

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