A Message from the Dean
hybrid learning template very effectively.
Dear Colleagues, CONGRATULATIONS CDU COM Team!
On July 9th, Governor Newsom signed a $ 50 million appropriation for CDU’ s new medical education building. And LA Care’ s Board approved a $ 5 million award to support for the building out of the new four-year medical education program slated to begin in 2023. Thank you very much Governor Newsom, CA State Legislature, LA Care CEO John Baackes and CDU alumnus and LA Care CMO, Richard Seidman, MD for your remarkable support of CDU.
I must offer, congratulations and high honors to the 489 graduates from all colleges and schools of the University. This number is a milestone that signals how valued a degree from CDU has become. Graduates, we know that you will establish yourself as leaders in your respective fields. You are always welcome to return and know that you are an important part of our legacy. The University is rapidly becoming known as the place where our faculty educates the best and the brightest students from all backgrounds, and medical and scientific interests.
I also want to thank COM administrators, faculty, staff, and students for your sterling efforts in keeping our operations stable and moving forward during the 2020-2021 academic year. You elevated CDU to the greatest of heights at an unprecedented time in our country’ s history. Borrowing a contemporary euphemism, all of you“ showed up and showed out”. Despite the fact that most of us primarily worked from home and mastered the nuances of videoconferencing, we accomplished quite a lot.
Graduates, you came from all disciplines of the University and represented the most diverse body of newly- decorated alumni in the US. We are particularly proud of the graduates who were the first students in their family to attain a degree, regardless of type and discipline. We salute those students who emerged from the lowest income strata because you know how important it is to help your community to receive the best health care possible. You are now well-equipped to help us be advocates and lead that battle.
We accomplished this work because we listened to each other and banded together in a truly unified effort. We didn’ t break stride in our academic delivery system. Courses were conducted as if everyone was in the same room and partaking became a prototype for distance learning that will be studied and modeled for the applications that enhanced the CDU’ s ability to utilize this
The University’ s LCME committee charged with developing the academic infrastructure of the new medical program has nearly completed its initial work prior to submission. This team built a blueprint that stresses the University’ s readiness in big bold language. This is a project that has been 54-plus years in the making. You, the architects of this plan, have devoted an incredible number of hours while building and enhancing professional relationships that will assist the cohesive transition to the new medical school, as well as be a joy and delight to those people in the community who have relied on you to help them achieve their dreams of high-quality medical care and highly qualified practitioners in their midst.
COM has seen accomplishments many fronts. Our work in the COVID-19 battle was distinguished in the groundbreaking research and analysis efforts of Dr. Roberto Vargas and his team. We salute Dr. Vargas for his accomplishment of being named 2020-2 Outstanding Professor by the University academic senate. There were many worthy candidates for these honors, and we hope that faculty members are gratified about their contribution to enhancing our work.
We salute the eight graduates of the Family Medicine Residency Program as the first fully licensed physicians in South Los Angeles in 15 years. We continue to enhance the residency experience and we look forward to continuous, outstanding success in our current Psychiatry residency, and in our new Internal Medicine residency. We note that none of this success would be possible without our clinical affiliations with outstanding partners, two of which, MLK Outpatient Center and Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, are spotlighted in this edition.
Lastly, this is a time of transition. We welcome back longtime CDU colleague Dr. Thomas Yoshikawa as a Professor of Internal Medicine while we bid farewell and thank you to Dr. Rahn Bailey, who has become Professor and Chair of the Psychiatry Department and Assistant Dean of Diversity at Louisiana State University.
We thank everyone for your tremendous contribution to the growth and development of the Charles R. Drew University Mighty Lions. A big ROAR!!! of appreciation to one and all.
Deborah Prothrow-Stith, MD Dean of the College of Medicine Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 2