Meet Our Medical Advisory Board Member: Dr. Matthew Mischler

Helping youth with special healthcare needs find a safe landing spot in adult care

As a physician and clinical professor of internal medicine-pediatrics, Dr. Matthew Mischler is passionate about providing high-quality care across the lifespan.

This continuity of care is especially important for youth with special healthcare needs as they transition to adulthood.

“How do we build safe landing spots on the other side for kids and families as they’re aging out of pediatric care?” Mischler said. “It’s such a needed space to be in. It’s so scary for families and caregivers. There’s so much fear and trepidation and absolutely, understandably so.”

As a member of the Division of Specialized Care for Children’s (DSCC) Medical Advisory Board (MAB), Mischler enjoys collaborating with DSCC and healthcare professionals across Illinois to improve transition support for families and providers.

“One of the things that’s so huge that DSCC does is help families navigate in that space,” he said. “They meet patients and families where they are to try to help them through that time.”

A calling to medicine

Mischler grew up in Peoria and always enjoyed science, especially biology and chemistry. With no doctors in the family, he didn’t consider medicine as a career until he broke his leg as a teenager.

Being around the orthopedic surgeons and anesthesiologists sparked his interest. A talk with his pediatrician later helped Mischler see medicine as a blend of science and helping others.

“I felt that vocational aspect. That calling became a part of it,” Mischler said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Mischler graduated from Bradley University in Peoria and then attended medical school at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He enjoyed all his medical rotations and couldn’t choose between caring for children or adults. Therefore, he pursued a combined specialty in internal medicine and pediatrics, known as “Med-Peds.”

Med-Peds physicians receive dual training in both pediatrics and adult medicine, making them uniquely qualified to provide seamless care from childhood through adulthood.

Mischler currently practices at OSF St. Francis Medical Center and is a Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and Program Director of the Med-Peds Residency Program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.

Mischler hopes his background and experience can help support DSCC’s ongoing efforts to strengthen providers’ knowledge, resources and skills to better support transition-age youth.

Building safe landing spots

Transitioning to adult care is often challenging for young adults with special healthcare needs, their families and their providers.

Families often face both emotional and logistical challenges as they move from pediatric to adult healthcare systems, Mischler explained.

He also notes how adult and pediatric specialists are often trained differently. These differences can lead to gaps in knowledge and comfort for adult providers when they care for patients with complex childhood-onset conditions.

Mischler praises DSCC for guiding families during this crucial time and working to build safe landing spots for patients aging out of pediatric care.

“Having an organization that stretches across the state like DSCC is such a huge resource in Illinois,” he said.

Mischler first started working with DSCC about six years ago when he helped start a pediatric-to-adult care transition team in Peoria. He referred families to DSCC and became involved with the annual Illinois Statewide Transition Conference.

DSCC later invited Mischler to join the MAB, where he recently completed his third year.

“The resources the organization provides to patients and families, the support that’s there as well for physicians and other providers — I think that’s an understated part of what DSCC does,” he continued.

“The (Medical Advisory) Board has given me an opportunity to better understand and appreciate just how much goes into this work, and how fortunate we are in Illinois to have an organization like DSCC that does the kind of work they do.”

“A beacon” for families and providers

As an MAB member, Mischler is focused on increasing awareness of DSCC and its wealth of transition resources across the state’s healthcare community.

“When there’s an organization that its mission and its goal is to support the most vulnerable and the most medically complex patients and families, that’s a really special thing to be a part of and that’s a huge thing for practicing physicians, nurse practitioners and PAs (physician assistants) to know is there for their patients,” he continued.

He thinks of providers in smaller or rural communities who may suddenly care for a child with complex needs. These physicians may feel unsure where to turn.

“How do we reach them and make sure they are aware of all the things that DSCC has to offer… They aren’t trying to navigate it alone. There is somebody out there whose mission is to help, and I think that’s a huge beacon,” Mischler said.

“The more people who can be aware of what DSCC is and how many people they support and how much advocacy goes on behind the scenes for the most vulnerable patients, that’s really important.”