The Max Beberman Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor awarded an alumna/us by Uni High. Since 1985, it has been awarded to recognize alumni who have enhanced the reputation of the school by distinguishing themselves in their careers and who have made significant contributions through professional service, public service, and civic activities, or in their service to Uni High.
When Amber Barnhart (‘73), the 2025 recipient of the Max Beberman Award for Distinguished Alumni, walked into Uni High as a ninth grader, she embraced Uni’s challenging and experimental curriculum, the small classes, the close community, and the leadership opportunities. Her Uni experience encompassed experiences outside the building as well: she learned Latin on PLATO (a computer housed in a nearby two-story building) and visited with National Guard members camped in the nearby parking lot when they were brought in to address campus unrest related to the Vietnam War.
“I was surrounded by kids who were really bright and from lots of different cultures, who attended classes even though attendance was not required,” she says.
After four fondly remembered years, Barnhart launched a decades-long career as a doctor that was rooted in her passion for the experimentation and experiential learning she encountered at Uni. Barnhart earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a medical degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She became a professor of Family and Community Medicine at SIU, as well as being a practicing physician.
During her pioneering career in family and community medicine, she received over $880,000 in grants, authored more than a dozen publications, gave many presentations at local, regional, national, and international conferences, and created a new model for physician-patient teamwork and patient empowerment.
“SIU Medical School is also experimental,” Barnhart says. “I tried to listen to society and listen to ideas and write grants to address real issues,” she says of the process that, among other things, inspired an early inquiry into distance learning for medical students in field placements. The concepts from that study later informed telehealth and online learning during COVID.
Her studies leaned toward the humanitarian, and she developed case studies to highlight the needs of underserved populations: people without housing, survivors of domestic violence, rural patients and LGBTQ+ patients.
She’s proud of her outreach because she was able to respond to the needs she saw in tangible ways. In some cases, her initial inquiries and volunteer work evolved into formal programs to bring health care to where people were, and offer it in accessible ways, rather than making marginalized communities overcome obstacles to access care.
As a strong voice for public health, Amber was an invited speaker at dozens of conferences, locally, nationally, and even internationally and convened many conferences at SIU School of Medicine, such as the Women’s Health Conference.
In her role as a teacher and mentor, Barnhart was frequently recognized for excelling in mentoring students to enter the medical field as patient partners working to make medical care responsive, inclusive and accessible. She was named the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians Teacher of the Year, was chosen by her students as a guest speaker and honored faculty for graduation ceremonies and was also twice honored as the SIU School of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Teacher of the Year. Barnhart was also named an SIU School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni of the Year in 2011.
Today, after retiring from SIU, Barnhart devotes her energy to groups devoted to promoting nature and environmental sustainability.
Barnhart and her husband, Stuart Frank, raised five children and have six grandchildren, all of whom are very precious to them. She is also very proud of her siblings: Trent Barnhart, M.D., Reverend Karen Bush, Donald Barnhart, PhD , Gayne Barnhart, and Brett Barnhart.
Uni is honored to recognize the work of Dr. Amber Barnhart as the 2025 Beberman Award recipient.