Panayotis Iatridis, MD, DSc, will proudly tell you that he is a seventh generation physician and his daughter, Mary, a second-year student at the IU School of Medicine, will be the eighth generation of Iatridis physicians. But even though Dr. Iatridis has retired from his post as assistant dean and director of the IUSMÕs Northwest Center for Medical Education, he isn't quite ready to pass the torch. The professor of medicine plans to continue teaching at the Northwest Center for a while longer and will direct the Introduction to Medicine course.
Teaching is something Dr. Iatridis knows a lot about; he developed the Problem Based Learning (PBL) curriculum that the center has used since 1990. The PBL approach replaces the traditional lecture method of medical education with case problem solving. Mock patients, known as standardized patients, are trained to portray certain disease conditions to help students learn history taking and diagnosis skills. The Northwest Center is the only IUSM site that uses standardized patients.
Learning from real patients is part of the mix also. Students are assigned to a family physician whom they shadow once a week so they can begin to learn clinical skills as well as experience the doctor/patient relationship and how it varies with patients of different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. During their two years at the center, students also are required to follow a patient with a chronic illness in order to experience the progression of disease and its psychological and emotional effects on the patient. The experience is made possible by the 170 area physicians who voluntarily open their offices to the program and share their expertise.
This high level of collaboration is a source of pride and satisfaction for Dr. Iatridis and his colleagues, who have spent more than two decades shaping the centerÕs educational programs. When Dr. Iatridis moved to Gary and joined the Northwest Center in 1975, there were four faculty members and four students, limited research and few connections with the community. Under his direction, the center has become a catalyst for medical education and research in northwest Indiana. Now there are 17 faculty members who not only teach but also conduct collaborative medical research funded by external grant money, a medical genetics clinic and lab that is the only one of its kind in northwest Indiana, and a medical library that is fully electronic and linked to the libraries at the nine hospitals in Lake and Porter counties.
Dr. Iatridis is an innovator. He is also an entrepreneur. Along with teaching, doing blood coagulation research and administering the center, Dr. Iatridis created a corporation, owned by the center, to generate additional funding. The corporation owns and operates the medical genetics clinic and lab, and owns two apartment buildings across the street from the center where most of the medical students live. The corporation brings in approximately $400,000 annually for the center.
"I really tried to expand the center in order to provide more opportunities for the students and faculty and to make their experiences more interesting and rewarding," says Dr. Iatridis.
This creativity and dedication to medical education and research hasnÕt gone unnoticed. Dr. Iatridis is highly regarded by local physicians and legislators. Along with community leaders, they joined his colleagues and students this March at a black tie dinner in recognition of his prolific career and leadership. Money raised at the dinner will help fund a scholarship in his name for students attending the Northwest Center. What a wonderful way to ensure many more generations of "Iatridis" physicians.