Seventy-four medical students from the Class of 2024 have begun their academic medical training at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The students are starting four years of intensive education to become physicians. The first weeks on the Carbondale campus include orientation, classes, clinical simulations and meetings with faculty. SIU students spend their first year in Carbondale and relocate to Springfield for years 2 – 4. SIU School of Medicine was founded in 1970 to help populate central and southern Illinois with new physicians, a need that is still critical. “The United