Fall DAC Meeting Highlights Achievements and Great Optimism
The Fall meeting of the COM Dean’ s Advisory Council on October 29th presented a variety of information for the assembled members on hand via Zoom. An update on the progress of the new four-year medical school by the three teams respectively at work on the academic curriculum, the building plan, and the fundraising effort led off. COM Family Medicine Department Chair and Residency Program Director Dr. Lisa Barkley followed with a discussion of the newly developing on-campus Centers of Excellence, highlighting the benefits of a sports medicine concentration.
The effort toward the new medical school is firing on all cylinders, Dean Deborah Prothrow-Stith observed. To that end, key members of each team presented a brief report. Faculty Academic Lead and Yellow Team spokesman, Senior Associate Dean Ron Edelstein noted the complexity of the curriculum planning effort in the steps toward accreditation: a full DCI( Data Collection Instrument) with 112 appendices was submitted. He described the details of the LCME initial process including a full review of the DCI that has led to a grant of candidacy status with the expectation of a site visit in six-eight months.
Dean Edelstein described the process as“ moving at warp speed”, with the CDU team planning observation visits at a variety of established institutions to further understand what is needed to reach enrollment of the first class. The new Kaiser medical school, and UCLA Geffen are included in the spate of institutions slated for onsite observation visits and conversations with key leadership.
The Blue team, led by architect Elaine Nesbit, is incorporating their work within the campus master planning process. In doing an analysis of startup schools, the CDU facility is envisioned as a midsized building edifice in comparison to other schools, utilizing both outdoor and indoor facilities.
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 8
Startup is critical as well as the decision-making process when leveraging dollars and considering options for contingency planning. With the possibility of building costs escalating with delays,“ Time is our enemy,” noted Dean Prothrow-Stith.
University Major Gifts Officer Richard Fernandez told the DAAC members that the University’ s current fundraising work is tracking very well. He noted that the fundraising prospectus for the new medical school building had been completed and conversation with foundations and sources of philanthropy were moving forward. Dean Prothrow-Stith thanked Dr. Grigsby for his $ 50,000 multi-year pledge.
Dr. Lisa Barkley presented the proposed Center of Excellence sports medicine program. She began by citing The Football Players Health Study, a Harvard University study regarding the importance of maximizing the health of NFL players during and post-career. That led to the project entitled Team Heal that she and her colleagues are engaged in predominantly with Los Angeles area high schools.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Dr. Barkley’ s previous sports medicine background includes her time at Christiana Care Health System, where she taught fellows, residents, and medical students in the fields of adolescent and sports medicine. She served as Director for the primary care sports medicine fellowship from 1997 to 2000. She had the distinction of being team physician for youth sports, high school, all NCAA divisions, and the U. S. Figure Skating Association.
In a series of slides presented to DAC members, Dr. Barkley pinpointed the need for a Center of Excellence dedicated to athlete health and wellbeing. The presentation was very timely, given that Fall features the convergence of all of America’ s