UIC: Interim Regional Dean, Department Head To Lead College Of Medicine's Peoria Campus

Press release from the University of Illinois at Chicago:

Jacqueline Carey

February 7, 2022

Dr. Meenakshy Aiyer, interim regional dean and head of the health sciences education department at the College of Medicine Peoria, will become regional dean of the campus effective March 18, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Part of the University of Illinois Chicago, the College of Medicine is one of the largest and most diverse medical schools in the U.S. and its Peoria, Illinois campus educates about 265 medical students and more than 300 physician residents and fellows annually.

According to an announcement by UIC’s Mark Rosenblatt, executive dean of the college, Aiyer will be the eighth regional dean to lead the Peoria campus, which was founded in 1970.

Before taking over as interim dean in 2019, Aiyer served as associate dean for academic affairs, where she was responsible for medical student education in Peoria.

Aiyer’s track record includes helping to expand the Peoria campus to a four-year medical school, advocating for curricular innovation and technology-enhanced medical education, and the addition of two new fellowships to Peoria’s graduate medical education program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aiyer also helped design and create the health sciences education department in Peoria, which she now leads.

Under Aiyer’s leadership, the research infrastructure in Peoria has grown to include a Research Services Division, which supports and elevates research and scholarship for faculty, staff and learners. Her efforts supporting philanthropy have led to the establishment of two endowed professorships and more than $1.5 million in new student scholarships and rural education endowments.

Aiyer, an internist and hospitalist, received her medical degree from Madurai Kamaraj University in India, where she was born and raised. She completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Louisville and the College of Medicine Peoria, where she served as chief resident. Aiyer joined the faculty at the college in 1996, following her residency.

This press release was produced by the University of Illinois at Chicago. The views expressed here are the author’s own.