New Building Will House the L.A. Care Center for Faculty Excellence
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), one of only four Historically Black Medical Colleges in country, held a groundbreaking earlier this week for its new Health Professional Education Building, which will house the L.A. Care Health Plan Center for Faculty Excellence. L.A. Care’s CEO John Baackes was on hand to participate in the official groundbreaking and to receive acknowledgement from CDU for the health plan’s 2021 $5 million grant that helped the university create a new independent medical education program on its South L.A. campus in 2023.
Before 2023, CDU had a 40-year partnership with the University of California, Los Angeles to train 28 medical students each year. While CDU maintains its partnership with UCLA, the new medical school program is training an additional 60 medical students each year. It requires a highly-trained faculty that can provide students with a high-quality education. The L.A. Care Center for Faculty Excellence will be a place to enhance and advance the education of faculty members.
The CDU Health Professionals Education Building will be completed in 2026.