The West Virginia University School of Medicine’s medical degree program received a full, unconditional, eight-year reaccreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, meeting the more than 125 required standards.
“Reaccreditation confirms what we already know: that our students are well prepared when they graduate from our program and that our institution provides an exceptional education,” said Clay Marsh, M.D., vice president and executive dean for health sciences.
The LCME is jointly sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association. The committee evaluates schools for accreditation every eight years to ensure that students receive appropriate education and skills to advance to the next phase of physician training.
Norman Ferrari, M.D., vice dean for education and academic affairs and chair of the WVU Department of Medical Education, said preparing for the accreditation committee requires a unified effort across the Health Sciences Center.
“It’s a huge undertaking with nearly two years of preparation,” Dr. Ferrari said. “We engaged hundreds of people representing all three of our campuses. Students and faculty joined together in various task forces, institutional self-study groups, and data collection.”
During a three-day site visit to Health Sciences Center in February, the LCME survey team identified numerous strengths of the medical school. Among the many institutional strengths noted in the team’s report were:
- Robust efforts at limiting student debt.
- Recruitment of students from rural West Virginia to help provide future physicians to underserved areas.
- Restructuring of the School’s relationship with clinical partners to strengthen collaboration.
- Significant enhancing of infrastructure for clinical and translational research.
“The survey team also noted how accessible the students felt the faculty members are,” Dr. Ferrari said. “Students feel that the faculty are really interested in their concerns and take time to listen.”
The LCME committee also commented on the strength of WVU’s commitment to its mission of addressing the healthcare needs of West Virginia.
Dr. Marsh said that the LCME’s standards for accreditation are constantly evolving and that WVU is on-task and prepared for the challenge. In fact, since the creation of the accreditation board, WVU has remained consistently accredited.
“We couldn’t have done this without the support of everyone involved,” Dr. Marsh said. “Thanks for a job well done by the participants.
Students will reap the benefits of accreditation for years to come.”
For more information on the WVU School of Medicine, visit medicine.hsc.wvu.edu.
