4-Year Medical Program Takes Important Step
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education ( LCME ) made an important visit to the CDU campus in July that could have a historic impact on the University . The LCME is recognized by the U . S . Department of Education and the World Federation for Medical Education ( WFME ) as the reliable authority for the accreditation of medical education programs leading to the MD degree . CDU seeks to launch its own 4-year Medical School Program under the College of Medicine pending accreditation from the LCME . The first class is slated to begin Fall 2023 pending LCME accreditation .
This program will be in addition to the University ’ s 4-year Charles R . Drew / UCLA Medical Education Program that ’ s currently offered in collaboration with the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California , Los Angeles ( UCLA ).
Accreditation of the proposed new medical program will significantly impact the state of California and beyond through the increase in the number of Black and Latino graduates joining the healthcare workforce . The state of California presented CDU with a $ 50 million one-time allocation to be used to support the new 4-year medical degree program .
The LCME accreditation is a voluntary , peer-reviewed process of quality assurance that determines whether the medical education program meets established standards . To achieve and maintain accreditation , a medical education program leading to the MD degree in the United States and Canada must meet the LCME accreditation standards . Programs are required to demonstrate that their graduates exhibit general professional competencies that are appropriate for entry to the next stage of their training and that serve as the foundation for lifelong learning and proficient medical care .
We caught up with the College of Medicine Dean , Dr . Deborah Prothrow-Stith , to discuss the road to accreditation and the LCME ’ s recent visit .
CDU : How do you feel the visit went ?
Dr . Prothrow-Stith : One of our themes during the preparations was “ leave it all on the field .” We did that . I don ’ t think we could have done any more than we did , and our panels did exactly what they were asked to do . While we don ’ t know the outcome , we feel very good about our performance .