Cherilyn Murer, JD, CRA, has been named chair of the board of directors of the Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center (NIPTRC), West Chicago. NIPTRC is a tax-exempt entity that will make available proton beam therapy, an advanced and highly effective form of radiation therapy currently unavailable in Illinois; the noninvasive therapy is the treatment of choice for certain pediatric and adult cancers, says a statement released by NIPTRC.
Murer, president and CEO of the Murer Group, a legal-based health care management consulting firm in Joliet, Ill, who specializes in strategic analysis and business development, is a member of Rehab Management’s editorial advisory board and pens the magazine’s Trends and Issues article.
NIPTRC is working with NIU and physicians from the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation to provide clinical and educational services to patients. NIPTRC’s holistic cancer care mission will provide patients with services such as nutrition, speech pathology, physical therapy, family counseling, and educational tutoring for pediatric patients.
Joint research partnerships between researchers from Fermilab and Argonne National Lab will help to advance the field of proton therapy worldwide, says the statement.
Murer, who previously served as vice-chair of NIPTRC, is also a Northern Illinois University Trustee and concluded a 2-year term as chair of the NIU board of trustees in June.
She has long been an active voice in the advancement of quality, cost-effective health care. Murer received a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Northern Illinois University and has coupled her background in law with her previous operational experience as the director of rehabilitation medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital,
[Source: Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center]