Two Faculty Members Receive 2026 SIU System Collaboration Award
Recognized for cross-campus collaboration that advances interdisciplinary health professions education, health equity and innovative team-based maternal care for underserved women and babies
September 18, 2026
(Alton) Two faculty members were awarded the Southern Illinois University System’s 2026 Faculty Collaboration Award at the SIU Board of Trustees meeting on September 17, 2026, at the SIUE School of Dental Medicine Campus in Alton.
They are Deja Finley, PharmD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice in the SIUE School of Pharmacy; and M. Rebecca Hoffman, MD, MSPH, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, SIU School of Medicine and Program Director for the SIU Alton Family Medicine Residency Program.
They were recognized for sustaining cross-campus collaboration focused on advancing health equity, interprofessional education and innovative models of team-based healthcare delivery, especially regarding the prenatal and maternal health of underserved women and their babies.
A cornerstone of their collaboration has been an initiative called Wrapping Obstetric Care for Moms and Babies in St. Clair and surrounding counties (WOMBSS), a grant-funded maternal health initiative. WOMBSS integrates pharmacists into prenatal and postpartum care to improve maternal and infant outcomes among underserved populations. WOMBSS was initially conceived and developed under the leadership of Safiya McNeese Ruffin, MD, FAAP, through her American Association of Family Physicians (AAFP) Fellowship.
(L to R) SIU President Dan Mahony, Dr. Hoffman, Dr. Finley, Dr. McNeese Ruffin and
SIU Board Chair J. Phil Gilbert.
More than 300 patients received care through this initiative. Their teams expanded that outreach through six community baby showers serving more than 100 participants. Families received health education and infant supplies such as car seats, pack-and-play cribs, diapers and wipes. Finley and Hoffman have continued to expand their collaboration through several quality improvement initiatives. Most notably, they developed a longitudinal geriatric deprescribing project where pharmacy trainees work alongside the family medicine team to evaluate medication use among older adults over time. Through the initiative, numerous geriatric patients have had their medication regimens optimized, including the identification and discontinuation of potentially unnecessary medications. The rotation simultaneously addresses medication-related risks in an aging patient population while providing trainees with practical experience in deprescribing and interdisciplinary, team-based care.
Their outreach as collaborators also includes participation in Juneteenth health events, Halloween programming in East St. Louis, Breakfast with Santa, Boys and Girls Club volunteer work, Head Start projects and education programs designed to build trust and improve access to care in historically underserved communities.
In these and other initiatives, they have collaborated in the training of 30 family medicine residents, four pharmacy residents and 24 pharmacy students through interdisciplinary clinical experiences, research activities and pharmacy-related instruction spanning 33 educational topics.
Their collaborative work has been disseminated nationally through presentations at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), the American Pharmacists Association (APHA), Family Medicine Experience (FMX), Kenniebrew-McNeese Equity Conference, EverThive Prevent Child Abuse Conference, the National Medical Association and peer-reviewed publications.
“The SIU System Faculty Collaboration Award was created to highlight and encourage faculty collaboration across SIU campuses,” said SIU System President Dan Mahony. “The innovative outreach and demonstrated success of this year’s honorees directly advance the university’s goals related to academic innovation, community impact and partnerships. Their programs that focus on maternal health, vaccine hesitancy and improving access to preventive care and sexually transmitted infections (STI) treatment are especially laudable.”
The scholars said they are grateful to receive the SIU collaboration award. “This recognition is especially meaningful because it reflects what can happen when we work across disciplines and campuses toward a shared goal,” Finley said. “Our collaboration has allowed us to create opportunities for our learners while developing programs that make a meaningful difference for the patients and communities we serve.”
“We are so pleased with our SIU School of Medicine- SIUE School of Pharmacy collaboration for community outreach, patient care, and education,” Hoffman added. “Interdisciplinary education and service benefits everyone. We look forward to continuing our outreach efforts in additional areas of need in our community in the years to come.”
Their collaboration is having a positive community impact beyond SIU. Notably, the care schematic developed through the WOMBSS initiative has been adopted by the director of obstetrics at one of SIU’s partnering clinics, integrating pharmacist-supported maternal health services into ongoing clinical care processes. At the BJC HealthCare Alton clinic where resident physicians care for their patients, the collaborative practice model with pharmacists, physicians and trainees has now launched as well.
In honoring Finley and Hoffman, Mahony also recognized McNeese Ruffin, formerly the Associate Program Director for SIU School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency, who previously held the role of Director of Women’s Health and Obstetric Services in Alton. As mentioned previously, she led the development of WOMBSS and many of the mentioned activities but has since left SIU. She is now at Swope Health in Kansas City, Mo.
About the Southern Illinois University System
Founded in 1869, the Southern Illinois University System includes nationally recognized public universities serving more than 25,700 students across two institutions: Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). SIUC includes a School of Law in Carbondale and a School of Medicine in Springfield. SIUE includes a School of Pharmacy in Edwardsville, a School of Dental Medicine in Alton, the Southwestern Illinois Justice and Workforce Development Campus in Belleville and the East St. Louis Center. Employing more than 7,400 faculty and staff, the SIU System is a major economic driver for central and southern Illinois and offers a wide range of academic programs leading to associate, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral and professional degrees including law, medicine, pharmacy and dental medicine.
