Founding Dean’ s Message: The Road to Accreditation
Welcome to Charles R. Drew University’ s proposed new 4-Year MD Program located in the Watts-Willowbrook community in South Los Angeles. The creation of this new program is a true collaborative effort, given the complexity of creating such a project to serve a community of 1.3 million residents with an accumulation of diverse health care needs. As the project is the first of its kind in South Los Angeles, the presence of a 4-Year MD program is truly a landmark event.
The creation and implementation of this momentous endeavor is important in adding new cohorts of professionals equipped to serve the greater Los Angeles community at the highest level. Also important is recognizing the importance of eradicating health disparities for all people. Attacking COVID-19 and its debilitating impact have most recently been outstanding research and practice areas for CDU.
We recognize the importance of planning today for the proposed program will grow to become recognized as one of the most vital institutions within the field of medicine over the ensuing years. One of our greatest assets is our starting point. The University has been operating a wide variety of degree-based, certification, and training programs since its inception over fifty years ago.
Los Angeles County has also been a very close partner in contributing vital professional talent and financial resources to further this ambition. The lessons learned have been essential to defining how the work of the current project has progressed to date.
This project is the result of the active integration of three tiers devoted to creating a standalone 4-Year MD Program. Tier 1 is devoted to the herculean work of organizing academic training and student development. Tier 2 is devoted to the planning and executing a physical building with the resources and capacity available to train 21st-century physicians. Tier 3 is devoted to the all-important, challenging work of fundraising that is a permanent part of the proposed new 4-Year MD Program’ s quest to become a world-class program.
CDU has always utilized its relationship with its constituency of service as a unique asset. A fundamental element of the University’ s approach is the intrinsic value of cultural competency as a training tool.
Two very important linchpins to the University’ s success are embedded within this approach. The most fundamental differentiator of CDU’ s recent strategy of patient care training is its nationally
CDU College of Medicine | PG. 3