INI Visionary

Patrick W. Elwood, MD
CEO, Illinois Neurological Institute
CEO, OSF Neuroscience Clinical Service Line

In a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Dr. Patrick Elwood has been a master surgeon, scholar, mentor and lifesaver. To his colleagues and coworkers, he has been a driving force in the development and advancement of neurological services in the region. To his patients and their families, he has been a source of hope and an extender of life.

Dr. Elwood is a native of Peoria. Known as Peoria's Father of Neurosurgery, he attended public schools then Bradley University where he graduated salutatorian in 1952. He then attended the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, receiving his M.D. degree with high honor in 1956. He achieved Alpha Omega Alpha, national medical honor fraternity. Dr. Elwood completed a rotation internship at Minneapolis General Hospital, Minnesota (1956-1957). He was then a resident in neurological surgery at the Illinois Neruopsychiatric Institute, University of Illinois Research and Educational Hospitals, Chicago (1958-1961), where he mastered the latest advances in neurosurgery, an accomplishment that would later benefit many patients in Central Illinois.

Dr. Elwood is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and holds membership in the Cerebrovascular Subsection of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He was elected to the Harvey Cushing Society in 1967 and to the Neurological Surgeons in 1987. Dr. Elwood was elected a Fellow of the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association in 1987. He has been a Guest Examiner for the American Board of Neurological Surgery on a number of occasions. He began private surgical practice in Peoria in 1961. Dr. Elwood brought with him aneurysm surgery, signifying the establishment of Peoria as the surgical treatment center for neurological disease within Central Illinois.

Dr. Elwood has been a mentor to scores of medical students and residents in the course of his exemplary career. Dr. Elwood was involved in the activities to bring forth the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria in 1969-70 and assumed leadership in establishing a multidisciplinary Neuroscience Department. He spearheaded the effort to establish a graduate training program for neurological surgeons, which came to fruition in 1980. His leadership and vision through the department have molded the careers of 17 neurosurgeons practicing throughout the United States.

Among his many contributions to the Neurosciences was the opening of the Neurological nursing unit and establishment of the first specialized team for neurological care in downstate Illinois. The micro-neurosurgery program began under his direction in 1968 with the first CAT scan unit in Illinois installed at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. The first special care unit for Neurology and Neurosurgery in downstate Illinois opened in 1983, along with the installation of the first MRI head scan in downstate Illinois. Dr. Elwood also helped establish the first LINAC radiosurgery program in downstate Illinois in 1993.

Today, Dr. Elwood's tireless effort and vision has produced the Illinois Neurological Institute (INI), a comprehensive neurological program. The INI was established at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center to benefit patients throughout the Midwest by improving clinical care, education and research in neurological illness. His work through the INI has also contributed to the development of integrated and specialized clinical treatment and rehabilitation units, formation of a large, comprehensive stroke service and network, the introduction of state-of-the-art technology including the first Gamma Knife Center in our area, as well as Cyber Knife technology, Sleep Disorders and Nerve and Muscle Disorder Center, along with other neurointerventional radiologic treatment options.

Contact Information

719 N. William Kumpf Blvd., Peoria, IL 61605
Phone: (309)676-0766
Fax: (309) 676-5920