Healthcare
Greater Peoria is home to top-tier healthcare services and an innovative medical research hub with ever-growing assets and investment. The region is anchored by established institutions and supported by innovative startups and research. Our healthcare industry, ranked as the 6th midsize healthcare hub in the country by Business Facilities, employs over 30,000 people in the region. Innovation, quality, and affordability are the hallmarks of our healthcare industry.
Learn more about the ever-innovating Greater Peoria Healthcare Industry.
OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center is Illinois’ fourth largest medical center and the area’s only Level I Trauma Center. It is home to OSF HealthCare Cardiovascular Institute, the Illinois Neurological Institute, and Children’s Hospital of Illinois. Ranked as the top in the state for patient-centered care for nine years in a row by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), OSF continues to innovate with technologies such as the OSF Innovation Studio to help employees take their novel ideas from concept to commercialization to provide better healthcare. Headquartered in Peoria, OSF Healthcare is leading the search for effective cancer treatment through proton beam therapy. OSF Healthcare accounts for over 13,000 jobs and almost 50% of the entire healthcare workforce in the region.
Carle Health provides comprehensive, coordinated care to patients throughout central Illinois through physician clinics, hospitals, and home care services. Carle is home to the Center for Senior Behavioral Health, Women’s Diagnostic Center, and the Wellmobile, which offers free mobile health screenings.
Carle Health also provides central Illinois with comprehensive addiction and mental health services through UnityPlace, a not-for-profit organization that includes Carle Health Behavioral Health Services, the former Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, Tazwood Center for Wellness, and Human Service Center.
The University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) partners with OSF and UnityPoint to educate physicians and biomedical scientists. This collaboration works to advance knowledge and provide healthcare in a setting of education and research. The hospitals act as teaching sites for medical students in residency programs.
We also have Methodist College for the training of Nurses, CNA, Medical Office, and Social Workers. Our leading colleges; Bradley University, Illinois Central College, Midwest Technical Institute, OSF’s Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing provide an endless supply of medical and healthcare graduates that support the industry. Regional high schools have a career and technical education programs that certify students as Certified Nursing Assistants and in CPR/AEP and Medical Terminology to start them on the path to additional healthcare careers.
Jump, a collaboration between UICOMP and OSF HealthCare, is a state-of-the-art medical training organization, research hub, and international leader in simulation and innovation. Jump Simulation replicates all areas of patient care using real medical equipment and the latest in simulation technology for performance improvement and model development. It is also the largest purpose-built simulation and healthcare engineering center in the world.
The Peoria NEXT Innovation Center spearheaded by Bradley University is a technology incubator for entrepreneurial businesses. The center includes 10 wet labs, 12 dry labs and serves as home to two biotech companies; a bioanalysis startup Veloxity Labs, and Midwest Bioprocessing Center.
The Cancer Biology and Pharmacology (CBP) Department of UICOMP collaborates with all the hospitals in the region and other campuses across central Illinois to conduct research on cancer biology, neuroscience, and ion channel biology. The department is also driven by the goal of direct contribution to medical education and research training of medical fellows and postdoctoral research scientists.
Ongoing research is focused on brain tumors – medulloblastoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumors, glioblastoma and neuroblastoma – breast and prostate cancer, neuro-inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases – Alzheimer’s, dementia, and multiple sclerosis – the neurotoxicology of environmental agents, stroke and spinal cord injury. CBP does this in collaboration with the Illinois Neurological Institute, Jump Simulation, and Illinois Cancer Care, which is headquartered in our region.
Learn more about our innovative Medical District.
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