![Pharm group at Franklin Middle School](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-03/BrainAwarenessDay.jpg?h=2a2eb587&itok=9lCg0iWD)
Brain Awareness Day at Franklin Middle School
Graduate students and research staff from SIU's Department of Pharmacology sparked some synapses of Franklin Middle School students on March 3, part of 'Brain Awareness Day.'
![Rural Mental Health Summit](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-03/FFRI%20RMH%20Summit%20fb-web.jpg?h=795bf1c1&itok=WmgTzjhv)
Rural Mental Health Summit to focus on farm sector support
Area ag leaders and health care professionals are coming together March 28 to discuss the challenges facing farmers, share best practices to navigate tough times and encourage relationships to benefit the families who feed the nation.
![Dr. Kari Wolf & Gov. JB Pritzker](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-03/BHWC-Wolf%2BPritzker-web.jpg?h=b3660f0d&itok=QcreK6y9)
New Behavioral Health Workforce Center announced
Governor JB Pritzker and state and local officials celebrated the launch of a new Behavioral Health Workforce Center that will increase Illinois’ capacity to recruit, educate, and retain behavioral health professionals. The Center will be based at SIU School of Medicine.
![Navin donation](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-03/Best%204-web.jpg?h=33fde331&itok=nB2on9PU)
New gifts to help SIU OB-GYN research and students
The family of the late John (Jack) Navins, MD, bestowed a pair of $100,000 gifts to Southern Illinois University School of Medicine on March 1.
![Rao - bioethicist](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-03/Rao_Radhika_Ryan-Bioeth-sq.jpg?h=c32c8564&itok=FWZeZ68P)
SIU School of Law’s Ryan Bioethicist Lecture to examine future of reproductive rights
Radhika Rao, a law professor who has written extensively about reproductive rights, will deliver the 2023 John and Marsha Ryan Bioethicist in Residence lecture at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 9 at the SIU School of Medicine.
![Barnard w sim kit](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-03/Barnard%20w%20sim-web%20copy.jpg?h=34e43602&itok=ojsdFiuh)
Group wins international sim training contest
SIU surgeon Melanie Barnard, MD, was part of an international team of clinicians who won the $700,000 grand prize to design low-cost simulation surgical training in the Global Surgical Training Challenge.
![Cancer screening kit drive-thru](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-02/Colorectal_Cancer_Screening_web.png?h=e7f7be8c&itok=mZD209YE)
Cancer screening kits available March 20 at SCI
Simmons Cancer Institute will provide free colorectal cancer screening kits to area residents at a drive-through event from 4 – 6 p.m. on Monday, March 20.
![Farm family](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-02/Farm%20family.png?h=c71d0c67&itok=gH5ULGZj)
March events to provide valuable support to farmers and their families
SIU's Farm Family Resource Initiative will host a webinar series for women in agriculture and a community forum on succession planning in March.
![CEBP masthead](https://www.siumed.edu/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_1120/public/2023-02/Cancer-masthead.png?h=534bbefb&itok=JoMmxR-6)
Population Science article, authors honored for research impact
The American Association for Cancer Research has recognized an article on rural-urban cancer disparities with an award based on its high impact and originality.