NORMAL, Ill. – They’ve partnered together for years, but now the collaboration between Peoria-based OSF HealthCare and Illinois State University is growing.
The two are starting the “Connected Communities Initiative” — which will work on research and come up with ways to transform health care.
“Clinicians from OSF HealthCare have been connecting with ISU faculty to innovate in our community,” said John Vozenilek, OSF HealthCare Chief Medical Officer for Innovation and Digital Health, to WMBD’s Craig Collins. “All we’ve done here, in its simplest form, is we’ve greated a funding pool that’s shared by the two institutions to ensure that good ideas get funded, and they progress to things that are meaningful to our community’s benefit.”
Vozenilek says each of the two sides will contribute a half-million dollars a year for research and development.
The work will cover clinical and patient education, health care engineering, data science, and cyber security.
“Our long tradition of education is going to definitely come in,” said Craig McLaughlan, ISU Associate Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. “We’re definitely going to work on some nurse education and some education for clinicians. Those are some areas that we’ve already identified as possible areas of strength.
McLaughlan tells WMBD’s Craig Collins it doesn’t hurt either that the university also houses the Mennonite College of Nursing.
