The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has reached a significant milestone for academic research institutions: this past winter, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching bestowed upon the School of Medicine the designation, Research 1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production — known simply as R1.
In a celebration held April 30 to commemorate the classification, Jerry Kruse, MD – the School of Medicine’s Dean and Provost since 2016 – congratulated the staff and students of SIU, noting that the school has made sweeping achievements in the past 10 decade leading up to this year’s announcement.
R1 is exceptionally rare among universities, bringing a level of global attention to the work of schools so rated. The Carnegie Foundation assesses the research activity of schools every three years, placing them into the Carnegie Classification System’s three main categories of R1; R2 (High Research Activity); and lastly, Research Colleges and Universities.
Presently, R1 requires schools to spend at least $50 million on research, and to host at least 70 research doctorates. The Carnegie Foundation found that in 2023 alone, SIU School of Medicine had 102 active research doctorate programs and was spending $58 million annually for research expenditures.
“The schools that make it to the top-tier R1 Carnegie status are less than 5% of the colleges and universities in the United States,” explained Dr. Kruse. “That designation is now given to 187 universities, nationwide.”
School of Medicine Dean & Provost Jerry Kruse congratulates SIU’s research teams after Carnegie classification (photo cred. Stan Anders, WMAY News)
Of those schools with a Research Activity Designation of R1, a total of six exist in Illinois:
- Northwestern University,
- Loyola University Chicago,
- University of Chicago,
- University of Illinois Chicago,
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
And now, joining them, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine makes sixth.
Much of the research done at the School of Medicine concerns innovations in treatment and prevention; work done at SIU is at the national forefront in areas such as cardiovascular disease and mental health, as well as in the mitigation and elimination of major health risks such as the proliferation of man-made PFAS contaminants in the environment. Nearly every academic field outside of medicine is involved in this process: law, business, engineering, agriculture, the humanities, and many other areas of study all play key roles in the work undertaken by the students and faculty at SIU.
It is their expertise, said Associate Dean of Research Donald Torry, PhD, which won the school the R1 classification.
“We gained this not by accident,” Professor Torry told the audience on Wednesday. “It’s made possible by our institutional commitment, and value for research… it takes an institution that has that culture to value research, as a means to improve medical care of our patients today, as well as for the tomorrows to come.
“We’re really nothing without the passion of our faculty. We are passing a wealth of passion onto our trainees, which is critical. We’re fortunate to have some of the best personnel in [research] communities.”
