“I’ve got a real Chicago ’90s story,” Audrey Tanksley, MD, says of her childhood in the city’s South Side. That was often not a good thing as her Englewood neighborhood faced an addiction crisis and all the ripple effects that caused within the community, including within her own family. Fortunately, one of her teachers recognized young Audrey as gifted academically and set her on a course to attend Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, the alma mater of Michelle Obama.
Dr. Tanksley knew at an early age that she wanted to go to medical school. She attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale for her undergraduate degree and medical school. She then returned to Chicago for a residency at University of Illinois Chicago and Advocate Christ Medical Center, including a year as chief resident. As her interests evolved, she received a medical education research fellowship from the University of Chicago. “It was really focused on building curricula and evaluating programs,” she says. “I like building things that are sustainable and have impact.”
Following the two-year fellowship at University of Chicago and a brief time in practice there, Dr. Tanksley realized she wanted to focus on addiction medicine. She grew up receiving health care from community health clinics and took the opportunity to give back. “I went out to the community and started practicing,” she says, “and I’ve worked in federally qualified health centers doing both primary care and behavioral integrated practice.”
At the proposed IllinoisCOM, Dr. Tanksley is currently a consultant, assisting in building the Mind and Medicine course, part of a proposed curriculum that integrates behavioral health and physical medicine. In addition to her other professional development, Dr. Tanksley received a fellowship at the University of Arizona in integrative medicine. “I studied a lot of Eastern practices, evidence-based Eastern medicine, nutrition, and herbal medicine,” she says. “I blend those traditional and Eastern medicine in my current practice.” This approach dovetails with the proposed IllinoisCOM’s emphasis on integrative medicine. Dr. Tanksley plans to utilize all of those skills and knowledge to build the Mind and Medicine curriculum for the first-and second-year students.
“When you look at urban areas, health care needs are very different depending on zip code, especially in a city like Chicago,” Dr. Tanksley says. She points to health problems such as hypertension and depression that can be even more challenging among populations that don’t have consistent access to health care, and issues such as gun violence that are more concentrated in these communities, casting a long shadow of trauma upon victims and their loved ones. “There is a huge need in the city of Chicago for more academic institutions that can service underserved populations,” she says.
As for the role of proposed IllinoisCOM in the wider health care landscape, Dr. Tanksley says, “My vision is to create a space for learners and our next generation of not just physicians but patient advocates for a more well-rounded, more inclusive health care system.”
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