Charles Drew University approved to start medical degree program
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has received preliminary approval from accreditation officials to start taking applications for its own medical school program.
University officials hope to open applications for the first medical school class by the first week of November, with the goal of having a class of 60 students entering the program next summer.
The historically Black university in Willowbrook received confirmation for preliminary accreditation of its medical school curriculum from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the main officials responsible for approval. The process took five years.
“It’s just really a big deal,” Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, the dean for CDU’s College of Medicine and a professor of internal medicine, said in an interview. She said the creation of the medical program is “our statement of commitment to this community.”
The announcement comes at a tenuous time for the medical profession as the United States faces a physician shortage and a long-time dearth of people of color entering the medical field. Industrywide burnout amid the COVID-19 pandemic and incidences of violent threats against medical professionals are also contributing to the shortage.
The Assn. of American Medical Colleges said in a report last year that it estimates the United States could see a shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 physicians by 2034, with significant gaps with primary care.
Since opening 56 years ago, Charles R. Drew University has graduated more than 600 physicians, 1,225 physician assistants and nearly 1,600 other health professionals. It has also trained more than 2,700 physician specialists through its various sponsored residency programs. Its school of nursing has graduated more than 1,300 nursing professionals, including more than 950 family nurse practitioners.
The only other historically Black colleges and universities to have a medical program are Morehouse College in Atlanta, Meharry Medical College in Nashville, and Howard University in Washington, D.C.
The school currently has a partnership with UCLA in which 28 students enroll in a four-year medical education program and work with both schools to get training to become doctors.
Charles R. Drew University has more than 20 degree and certificate programs, but the medical degree program is completed through UCLA. Students currently complete two years with UCLA and two years with Charles Drew University and graduate with a medical degree through the joint program.
The university will continue to offer the option for students to get their degree through the joint program. Students can separately choose to only attend Charles Drew University’s four-year medical degree program if they wish.
More than 80% of Charles R. Drew University students are from communities of color, and more than 71% of campus faculty are people of color, according to the college’s website.
As the university prepares to start its own medical degree program, it’s a chance to create a curriculum grounded in social justice, research, global health, health policy and continuing to be grounded in community, said Prothrow-Stith.
The goal of the program is to train doctors and “leaders who understand the need for system change and equity in healthcare, who understand the social determinants of health and not only work to provide care to individuals but see the community as part of its responsibility as well,” Prothrow-Stith said.
Once the university graduates the first class of medical degree recipients, it will be eligible for full accreditation.
After medical schools receive full accreditation, they do not have to go through the the Liaison Committee on Medical Education re-accreditation process for nearly a decade, Prothrow-Stith said. LCME officials met with more than 80 people during a three-day visit to the school in July.
The university has also received $50 million from California for a medical school building that will open in 2025.
“We have some naming opportunities,” Prothrow-Stith said of the new building. “We hope to name our medical school based off a significant donation.”
Charles R. Drew University officials went through a rigorous multi-year — and multimillion dollar — process to prepare for accreditation, the culmination of a long-time dream deferred.
The campus opened in 1966 and is named after a Black physician from the early and mid-20th century who focused on blood banking and blood plasma storage and transfusion. He was also a distinguished surgeon and chair of surgery at Howard University.
Sylvia Drew Ivie, Drew’s daughter and a senior special assistant to the university’s president for community affairs, said she is “thrilled to my toes” about the school soon opening its medical school application process.
She said the news is a realization not only of the university’s hard work but also of a continued commitment to serving South Los Angeles and offering the community resources it deserves.
“My dad would just be anxious to come back to this life so he could be part of it and train these students,” Drew Ivie said. “He loved training brilliant young minds to serve with excellence and compassion, and that was his greatest joy. And we’re following his dreams as well.”
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