Neurosurgeons

Neuroscience Institute

The Neuroscience Institute consolidates SIU’s Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry into a single-site outpatient clinical care center staffed by more than 50 neuroscience providers. The institute cares for patients with a range of disorders including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, spine disease, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.

PATIENT CARE

A synergistic approach to patient care

By combining the breadth of experience from those within the Departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, patients receive comprehensive and coordinated care. Experts work closely together to provide patients with greater accessibility and faster appointment times, often on the same day. 

Our specialties include:

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Jayant Acharya

Acharya named Neurology chair and co-director of SIU Neuroscience Institute

“It is an honor and privilege to guide the neurology and neuroscience teams at SIU,” said Jayant Acharya, MD, DM. “I plan to harness the intelligence, creativity and commitment of our faculty, staff and trainees using a collaborative, relationship-centered leadership approach to help SIU medicine meet its vision of improving health for everyone in our community and beyond.”

Doctors looking at brain scans.
EDUCATION

Seeking answers to stroke, Alzheimer's disease

Medical students have many opportunities to dive deeper into basic and clinical research throughout their four years at SIU School of Medicine.  The Mentored Professional Enrichment Experience provides students with the chance to work with physicians and researchers at SIU or other medical campuses. Students can take the eight-week elective between their first and second years of medical school.

“As students learn medicine, it’s important that they also understand the value of research as part of the health care field,” said MPEE Program Coordinator Eric Niederhoffer, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in Carbondale.

PATIENT CARE

Physical medicine and rehabilitation

Physiatry is a clinical specialty that focuses on optimizing the function and quality of life in people with a wide range of physical impairments, disabilities and conditions. It’s also known as physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R).

Physiatrists diagnose and treat medical conditions caused by injury, illness, or disease affecting the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, nerves) and musculoskeletal system (bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons). Conditions commonly evaluated by physiatrists include:

  • Chronic back pain, neck pain, and joint pain
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Post-operative or post-traumatic pain
  • Fibromyalgia 
  • Burns
  • Complex regional pain syndrome
  • Cerebral palsy and other types of birth defects
  • Strokes 
  • Spinal cord injuries including paraplegia and quadriplegia
  • Traumatic brain injuries
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)
  • Amputations and limb loss
  • Post-polio syndrome
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Physiatrist Jordan Sestak with patient
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SIU Drs team

Latest news

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SIU Medicine physicians perform first transorbital skull base surgery in central Illinois

Dr. Dana Crosby, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and neurosurgeon Dr. Devin Amin recently completed the first transorbital skull base surgery in central Illinois.
Jayant Acharya

Acharya named Neurology chair and co-director of SIU Neuroscience Institute

Dr. Jayant Acharya has been named the chair of the Department of Neurology and co-executive director of the Neuroscience Institute at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
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