Bradley University  ::Attending Bradley :: Apply Online :: Student Life :: Our Community :: Visit Us :: A to Z :: Search :: Home

Bradley Hilltopics

Summer 2010 • Volume 16, Issue 3  

Notebook

 

Brain center founded on collaboration

ABOVE: Dr. Lori Russell-Chapin consults with Dr. Wen-Ching Liu at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. They are co-directors of the new Center for Collaborative Brain Research (CCBR) at Bradley. Russell-Chapin is researching attention deficit disorders. She is the 2010 recipient of the Thelma Duffey Award, a national award from the Association for Creativity in Counseling. Photo by Duane Zehr.

By GAYLE ERWIN McDOWELL ’77

BRAIN CENTER PARTNERS

Bradley University

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center Department of Radiology

Illinois Neurological Institute

RESEARCH COLLABORATOR

University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria

Three top medical institutions in Illinois have joined forces with Bradley University for the new Center for Collaborative Brain Research (CCBR) at Bradley. The center will allow faculty and students to share resources and ideas with physicians, radiologists, and neurologists.

“The brain is one of the final frontiers,” Dr. Lori Russell-Chapin told a crowd at the announcement of the new center on March 25. “We now know that the brain is plastic. We know that it’s moldable. The more we know, the more it will change the way we do a lot of things. We are so fortunate that we can pool our resources.”

Russell-Chapin, a professor of counseling at Bradley, is co-director of the new CCBR. With Peoria’s vast medical community, she envisioned the new center as a way to assemble a group of experts to advance brain research. “We have to bring together people with different skill sets,” she said.

Dr. Patrick Elwood

DR. PATRICK ELWOOD ’53, CEO of the Illinois Neurological Institute, speaks about Bradley’s new brain research center as Dr. Joan Sattler, dean of the College of Education and Health Sciences, looks on. The announcement of the new center took place at the Markin Family Student Recreation Center, which Elwood noted is named in honor of his classmate, DAVID MARKIN ’53.

 

The other co-director, Dr. Wen-Ching Liu, is from the department of radiology at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, where MRIs will be used to acquire research data and to view human brain function mapping. “This new network will provide researchers from each institution opportunities to easily work with others who have common interests, yet different specialties,” he said.

The new research center is part of the College of Education and Health Sciences, which concentrates on courses in the human service professions. Among those professions are nurses, physical therapists, counselors, dietitians, and educators. Ongoing research in the College on autism and robotics, concussions, and ADHD will continue as part of the CCBR.

On April 23, the center participated in an annual symposium in Rome sponsored by the BrainForum. Of the 50 universities and research centers worldwide that listened to neuroscientists’ presentations via teleconferencing, Bradley was the only group live-streamed into the conference. Russell-Chapin described the new CCBR to symposium participants.

The center’s three-year strategic plan involves expanding research projects, increasing community involvement, and continuing neuropsychological brain research. The CCBR expects to bring in nationally recognized speakers for public lectures. Because of the collaboration, the center also hopes to secure grants and federal funding.