Illinois Medicine

been able to go to college," he says. He also worked his way through school, holding jobs in construction, hospitals and grocery stores. The affordability of the College of Medicine similarly made it possible for him to become a doctor, a profession to which he was drawn by a combination of a calling to public service and an interest in science. Again, Flaherty worked while in school, covering the emergency room of a local steel mill every fifth night. "I was a member of three dif- ferent unions by the time I finished," he remembers. His experience wasn't unique. "The thing that is most memo- rable to me about that time is the group of friends in my class who were funny, supportive, bright and dedicated. They were working as hard as I was, both in school as well as at part-time jobs, to put ourselves through medical school," Flaherty recalls. He also fondly remembers Irving Schulman, MD, head of pedi- atrics, and Hy Muslim, MD, professor of psychiatry. "They were bright, One of the most significant findings of their alcoholism research was that while women starting in medical school had only one-quarter of the risk of drinking problems as men—consistent with the percentage for society at large—six years later during residency the risks were about the same. "We showed that women were embracing negative male coping skills in response to highly stressful situations like medical school," he says. After becoming vice head (in 1991) and then head of psychiatry in 1998, Flaherty built a nationally ranked neuroscience program aimed at early identification of autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. "When I entered the field of psychiatry, it was very much a field that was tied to the best of psychodynamic principles and was just beginning to examine the biological forces that were affecting and causing mental illness. I'm proud to have helped lead the UIC department of psychiatry in contributing to that understanding," Flaherty says. He also worked with the Illinois Department of Children and Fam- charismatic, felt strongly about their fields and had an important impact on me and generations of medical students," Flaherty says. After earning his medical degree and completing his residency, Flaherty joined the faculty of the College of Medicine's department of psychiatry—turning down an offer to join the faculty at Northwestern University with a significantly higher salary—because of Illinois Medi- cine's commitment to providing both educational opportunity and clinical care to the underserved and economically less fortunate. "I am proud to see that the university has maintained that com- F mitment," Flaherty says. "I've witnessed the gradual conversion of the university's health care system from being a charity hospital to being a truly first-rate academic medical center while maintaining a very strong commitment to diversity and underserved populations." OR FLAHERTY, THAT COMMITMENT first took the form of research in health care disparities as well as gender and ethnic differences in depression and alcoholism, research he conducted in collaboration with Judith Richman, PhD, pro- fessor of epidemiology in psychiatry. Overall, Flaherty has more than 200 scholarly publications to his credit and was funded continuously for more than 25 years from sources including the National Institutes of Health, the MacArthur Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust. ily Services to improve psychiatric treatment of children who were wards of the state by establishing a residential treatment placement evaluation program, psychopharmacology reviews and an inpatient treatment pro- gram at the medical center. After being named dean in 2004, Flaherty balanced the budget of the College of Medicine, which was deeply in debt. He also played a central role in the university's Brilliant Futures fundraising philanthropic campaign, helping raise more than $270 million for the college and the University of Illinois Medical Center. A key part of this effort was Flaherty's outreach to his Illinois Medicine alumni, which included, by his estimation, more than 100 dinners each year. "He's done a very good job of articulating the goals and values of the school and how fortunate we have been to have the privilege of going to medical school at U of I," says Stephen Cullinan, MD '72. He and his late wife, Theresa Falcon-Cullinan, MD, made major gifts to establish two endowed professorships in the college. This fundraising helped make possible the construction of new facilities on the campuses of the College of Medicine in Peoria and Rockford. Rusch and Martin Lipsky, MD, regional dean of the Rockford campus, credit Flaherty with engaging the regional campuses—which also include the College of Medicine in Urbana-Champaign—while also providing them with autonomy. "He was there when we needed him but otherwise gave us freedom to lead our campuses," Lipsky says. 18 | SUMMER 2 011

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