Dr. Terry Vanden Hoek, Professor and Head

Welcome to the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago!

We are a leading Emergency Medicine department whose mission is to deliver emergency care services of exceptional quality, safety, and efficiency with compassion and respect.  We are committed to improving the health in our community through timely care of life- or organ-threatening conditions and working with our patients and their physicians to help prevent future emergencies.  Our faculty has served in leadership roles within the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians (ICEP) as well as the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.  They include recognized experts in toxicology, pediatric emergency medicine, ultrasound imaging for emergency care and diagnosis, and emergency care for patients with heart disease and stroke.  Several faculty are involved in the Global Health Center, an ambitious initiative by the University of Illinois and Health Sciences System that seeks to improve urban health both in Chicago and several sister cities throughout the world.  Our research seeks to use the emergency department in innovative ways to identify and address health disparities in our community.  We are partnering across departments within the medical school as well as across other major schools on campus that include public health, nursing, pharmacology, and social work.  Our current research interests include environmental toxicology, asthma, heart failure, sickle cell disease, stroke, telemedicine, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Our department is committed to training future leaders within Emergency Medicine who serve their hospitals and communities through excellence in clinical care, administrative leadership, and innovations in education and research.  Since we are one of the most established training programs in the nation, our faculty have trained one of the largest groups of Emergency Medicine physicians currently practicing in the United States and abroad.  We are also one of the few programs that offer both a 3-year training program in Emergency Medicine and a 5-year combined Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine training program.  Our training programs are integrated across complementary urban and suburban emergency departments with unique patient populations and training experiences.   We offer a Physician-Scientist Development Program for residents interested in future careers in clinical and translational research.  This program prepares residents for fellowship training programs in toxicology, ultrasound imaging, global/international health, and resuscitation medicine.  These residents will have access to fellowship training programs that prepare them for Career Development Award applications.   They will also have access to related Masters programs offered in Public Health, Health Professions Education, Translational Science, and a new program in Health Disparities.

We are proud to be part of an Emergency Medicine team that provides excellent care for our patients and exceptional training for future leaders in emergency care, education, and research.   Please take the time to get to know our services to the community and our residency programs.

Dr. Terry Vanden Hoek, Chairman
Department of Emergency Medicine
College of Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago