Rural Health Summit
2025 Illinois Rural and Small-Town Health Summit
The 2025 Illinois Rural and Small-Town Health Summit will take place on October 15, 2025, at the Memorial Learning Center in Springfield, Illinois. This year the summit is supported by, Southern Illinois University Simmons School of Law, Department of Population Science and Policy and Institute of Rural Health, SIU School of Medicine.
This year’s theme, "Health Care Workforce: Learnings and Transformation in a Post-Pandemic Environment," will focus on strengthening and sustaining the rural and small-town healthcare workforce. The event will convene leaders from federal, state, and local governments, academia, the business sector, and nonprofit organizations to explore innovative solutions and collaborative strategies informed by the challenges and lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions will emphasize workforce development, policy implementation, and long-term impact, with a focus on practical, actionable steps.
Further details, including the agenda, speakers, and registration, will be announced in the coming months. Organizations interested in supporting this initiative can explore sponsorship, exhibit, and partnership opportunities by reaching out to ruralhealthsummit@siumed.edu. A copy of the sponsorship brochure can be found here.
Please check this page regularly for updates. We look forward to your participation.
About the Rural Health Summit
In August 2018, SIU Medicine Department of Population Science and Policy, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, UIC School of Public Health, SIU Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development and the Illinois Department of Public Health convened an influential group of rural health experts and stakeholders in Springfield. The two-day event gathered information and inspiration to begin drafting and executing a blueprint to improve the health of residents in rural Illinois. Summit participants identified specific challenges to rural communities: physician shortages, opioid use, childhood disparities, an aging population, obesity, housing and the rural economy. That Summit resulted in a report focused on rural disparities and challenges faced by rural communities.
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the US in 2020, the Department of Population Science and Policy, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, UIC School of Public Health and SIU Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development re-convened to host virtual focus groups to address COVID's impact on the topics identified in the 2018 summit. The Rural Health Summit partners released 11 reports and hosted nine webinars on the pandemic's impact on rural issues and the innovative solutions employed by rural communities.
The work of the Rural Health Summit continued in the 2022 Innovating Illinois Rural Health Event Series, presented by Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Department of Population Science and Policy, Southern Illinois University School of Law and Southern Illinois Healthcare. This series of virtual and in-person events celebrated rural innovation and shared best practices for rural communities. In 2023, SIU Medicine Department of Population Science and Policy and Southern Illinois University School of Law continued the conversation with the 2023 Illinois Rural Health Summit: Exploring Gender Health Equity Through Policy.
The Rural Health Summit has served as a convening ground which brings together thought leaders from policy, medicine, community, philanthropy and business to explore rural informed solutions to rural health issues. Produced by the Department Population Science and Policy, the 2025 Summit will amplify rural voices at the intersection of research, healthcare and policy in Illinois, working together to make strides towards achieving better gender health equity in Illinois.
Now in its fifth year, the summit has been a vital forum for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration - bringing together stakeholders to exchange best practices and develop actionable strategies for improving rural health across Illinois. The summit will feature expert speakers, interactive sessions, and networking opportunities.
For more information, please contact ruralhealthsummit@siumed.edu or psp@siumed.edu.