Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science is a

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

Willowbrook, California Willowbrook, alternatively named Willow Brook, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 24,295 at the 2020 census, down from 35,983 at the 2010 census. ...

, focused on health sciences. It was founded in 1966 in response to inadequate medical access within the

Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), a list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Albie Watts, a fictional character in the British soap opera ''EastEnders'' *Angie ...

region of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The university is named in honor of

Charles R. Drew Charles Richard Drew (June 3, 1904 – April 1, 1950) was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to devel ...

. The university is a member-school of the

Thurgood Marshall College Fund The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is a non-profit organization that supports and represents nearly 300,000 students attending its 55 member-schools that include public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), medical school ...

History

Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School was incorporated in the State of California as a private, nonprofit educational institution in 1966 in response to the McCone Commission's recommendations to improve access to healthcare in

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...

following the

Watts Riots The Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion or Watts Uprising, took place in the Watts neighborhood and its surrounding areas of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965. The riots were motivated by anger at the racist and abus ...

in 1965. In 1973, Governor

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

signed Senate Bill 1026 authored by State Senator

Mervyn Dymally Mervyn Malcolm Dymally (May 12, 1926 – October 7, 2012) was an American politician from California. A Democrat, he served in the California State Assembly (1963–1966) and the California State Senate (1967–1975), as the 41st lieutenant gove ...

to allocate funding and support for the institution from the General Fund to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. In January 1970, the offices of the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School and the Watts-Willowbrook Regional Medical program formally opened at 12012 Compton Avenue, and would serve as the central center for CDU's operations until the W.M. Cobb Building's construction in 1984. Three schools and colleges are housed on CDU's 11-acre campus: the College of Science and Health, the College of Medicine and the Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing (MMDCON). In May 1978, a proposed agreement between the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School and the

UCLA School of Medicine The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of Califor ...

to jointly establish an undergraduate medical program at Drew was approved. Medical students complete their first two years of medical school at the

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA The UCLA School of Medicine (also known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA) is the accredited medical school of the University of California, Los Angeles. Founded in 1951, it is the second medical school in the University of Califor ...

, then finish their last two years of clinical work at Charles R. Drew University, including rotations at the Martin Luther King Jr Outpatient Center as well as local community clinics near the Charles R. Drew University campus. The Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing opened in 2010. The school was the first comprehensive nursing program to open in Southern California in decades, and the first ever of its kind in South Los Angeles. In 2010, the university introduced the Community Faculty Track, a unique model for community-academic partnerships in which community leaders are integrated into the university's research goals and the education of medical professionals. In 2018, the school partnered with

Ross University School of Medicine Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is a private, for-profit medical school. Its main campus is in Barbados, and its administrative offices are in Miramar, Florida. Until 2019, the university's main campus was in Portsmouth, Dominica. RU ...

, a for-profit medical school in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, to educate doctors for South Los Angeles, since Charles R. Drew University typically receives more than 3,000 medical school applications, but only has space for 28 medical students each year. In September 2020,

Bloomberg Philanthropies Bloomberg Philanthropies is a philanthropic organization that encompasses all of the charitable giving of founder Michael R. Bloomberg. Headquartered in New York City, Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses its resources on five areas: the environ ...

made a $100 million donation to the four historically black medical schools in existence in the United States: Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science,

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first m ...

, the

Morehouse School of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is an independent and private historically-Black medical school in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally a part of Morehouse College, the school became independent in 1981. History MSM was established at the sugges ...

, and

Howard University College of Medicine The Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM) is an academic division of Howard University that grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Ph.D., M.S., and the M.PH. HUCM is located at the Howard University Health Sciences Center in Washington, D ...

. In February 2022,

MacKenzie Scott MacKenzie Scott ( Tuttle, formerly Bezos; born April 7, 1970) is an American novelist, philanthropist, co-founder of Amazon, and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos. As of May 2025, she has a net worth of US$35.9 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionair ...

made a $20 million, unrestricted donation to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, the largest private donation in the university's history. In July 2023, the university accepted its first class of 60 medical students in a new MD program that is independent of the existing joint program with UCLA (which accepts at most 28 students). Full LCME accreditation for the program will be possible after the first class of 60 students has graduated from CDU. In 2024, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science received a $75 million gift from

to support the school’s endowment.

Presidents

Academics

The university offers degrees in three colleges: * College of Medicine * College of Science and Health * Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing

Research

Research at CDU focuses on ways to address health disparities within the state of California, nationally, and globally. Research is organized around several health pillars, including cancer, cardiometabolic disease, HIV, mental health, and health services/health policy research. Research areas such as biostatistics and biomedical informatics cut across the five research pillars. In addition, the university has a Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence, to address the crisis in health outcomes for Black mothers in the US, partially funded by a $9 million

Health Resources and Services Administration The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland. It is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care service ...

(HRSA) grant. Faculty members at CDU conduct ongoing NIH and DoD-funded research on conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, tobacco use and HIV/AIDs. The university's Department of Research and Health Affairs was initially established as the Office of Research in 1973 to organize the assignment of research activities at the institution and provide a focus for encouraging faculty participation in laboratory activities.

Physician Assistant program

The Physician Assistant program at the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School (now "CDU") began as MEDEX in 1971. It was one of the first MEDEX programs to open in the state of California. MEDEX students at Drew received their instruction from physician faculty at UCLA until March 1973, when they moved to what was then known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. General Hospital in Watts. The physician assistant program, which was originally an undergraduate program, returned to the university in August 2016 as a master’s degree granting program after a five-year closure period that began in 2011.

Residency programs

In September 2017, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate $800,000 to CDU to fund two residency training programs in Family Medicine and Psychiatry. The funds were made available through a Pre-Medical School Affiliation Agreement signed between L.A. County and CDU in October 2017. A Medical School Affiliation Agreement between L.A. County Health Agency and CDU provides the programs with support of up to $14.6 million until 2023. Residents began their programs in Family Medicine and Psychiatry in July 2018, meaning that the university offered residency training as part of its curriculum for the first time since the closure of the former King-Drew Medical Center, and consequently the university's own training programs, in 2007.

Accreditation

CDU is recognized as a minority-serving institution by the U.S. Office for Civil Rights, as well as a historically black graduate institution under the U.S. Department of Education's Strengthening Historically Black Graduate Institutions Program, also known as Title III B. CDU is also a member of the

Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities A Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) is defined in U.S. federal law as an accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25% or higher total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time equivalent (FTE ...

and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. The university is accredited by the

WASC Senior College and University Commission The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC ( )) provided accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa and Northern ...

. In 2009, its accreditor placed the university on probation; it was removed from probation two years later. Programs at the university are also accredited by the

National League for Nursing The National League for Nursing (NLN) is a national organization for faculty nurses and leaders in nurse education. It offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiative ...

Accrediting Commission and the

Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) is a nursing education accrediting agency in the United States. The CCNE is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. The commission's headquarters are in Washington, D.C. CCNE acc ...

Association with Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital

Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital closed in 2007. Both the university, which is private, and associated County-owned public hospital fell into serious trouble at the outset of the 21st century.Tracy Weber ''et al.''
The Troubles at King/Drew (5 part series)
''Los Angeles Times'', December 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. By 2006, several residency programs had to be terminated because they lost accreditation for not meeting the necessary amount of oversight, and the hospital itself was forced into a radical restructuring plan in late 2006.Tiffany Hsu
University official stresses campus isn't King-Harbor
''Los Angeles Times'', June 22, 2007. The restructuring caused the County-owned hospital to sever its ties to the neighboring private, non-profit medical school and terminate support to 248 medical residents.Susannah Rosenblatt
Medical school to sue L.A. County
''Los Angeles Times'', March 7, 2007. In October 2006, the national

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the body responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs —internships, residencies, and fellowships (subspecialty programs) — for physicians in the United ...

informed school officials that it planned to revoke the university's ACGME accreditation because of the hospital's upcoming loss of Medicare money; as a result the university voluntarily withdrew its accreditation. The school was eligible to seek reinstatement to relaunch its residency program in July 2008. As a response to the problems, the university reorganized, terminating its president, and dismissed nearly two-thirds of its

board of trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. On March 6, 2007, officials from the university announced that they would sue

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

for $125 million for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

, claiming that the restructuring of the hospital gutted the adjacent university. In September 2009, the lawsuit was settled with an agreement under which the county would rent space to the university on favorable terms and the county and university would work together toward the reopening of MLK Hospital. In June 2007, the school began an 18-month

rebranding Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

effort aimed at preventing people from associating the school with the continuing ordeals of King-Harbor; the school criticized the hospital for leaving an old sign bearing the King/Drew name.

Notable faculty

Notable past and present Charles R. Drew University faculty members include

Patricia Bath Patricia Era Bath (November 4, 1942 – May 30, 2019) was an American Ophtalmology, ophthalmologist and humanitarian. She became the first female member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a post-graduate training progra ...

, an ophthalmologist and the first black female doctor to receive a medical patent, for inventing a laser treatment for cataracts and

Deborah Prothrow-Stith Deborah Prothrow-Stith is an American physician who is Dean and Professor at Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine in Los Angeles. Prothrow-Stith has advised healthcare institutions on leadership, as a principal at consulting firm Spenc ...

, a pioneer in addressing youth violence as a public health issue and the first woman Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Prothrow-Stith is Professor of Internal Medicine and current Dean of the College of Medicine.

Calvin Johnson (anesthesiologist) Calvin Johnson is an American anesthesiologist and professor of anesthesiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. Born and raised in Egelston Township, Muskegon, Michigan, Johnson attended Oakridge High School, where he exce ...

served as dean of the College of Medicine from 2001 – 2002.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles R. Drew University Of Medicine And Science Universities and colleges in Los Angeles County, California Medical schools in California

Drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

Private universities and colleges in California