Dear LSUHS Community, 

On March 10, 2023, the School of Medicine at LSU Health Shreveport will receive official notice that our medical education program (leading to the M.D. degree) remains fully accredited but is being put on probation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). This action was taken by the LCME following a virtual survey visit for full accreditation on April 25-27, 2022. We accept the LCME report and decision and are using this opportunity to expedite enhancements to our medical education program, many of which were already underway prior to the LCME site visit.

We are proud of our long tradition of training physicians who have provided excellent medical care to their patients, largely in Louisiana, many of whom have attained great recognition in their fields. Our graduates still have virtually 100% pass rates on licensing exams with a high match rate (98.98% over the past five years) into excellent residencies.

The LCME review, however, found several key areas of concern regarding curricular and non-curricular accreditation standards. We are working to submit an action plan to LCME to address these areas of concern, and we anticipate reassessment of our probation status in 2024-25. We share these concerns and are committed not only to resolving them but to aiming high in creating our new medical education program. Our goal is not only to achieve compliance with all LCME standards (and therefore removing the probationary status), but to create a national model of medical education, ensuring that our graduates are optimally prepared to pursue consequential medical careers of excellence. We have already begun a number of steps to achieve these important and attainable goals, including:

• Welcoming new Chancellor David Guzick, MD, PhD on January 9.
• The hiring of Kelly Pagidas, MD, on February 1, as the Associate Dean of Medical Education. Dr. Pagidas has begun the process of fundamentally restructuring the administration, content, and learning methods of the School’s educational program, with re-alignment of faculty participation.
• Reshaping our curriculum, focused on the presentation of content – scientific knowledge, clinical skills, and other competencies such as communication skills, team-based practice, and evidence-based medicine – in a proportion and sequence that will best prepare graduates for the future.
• The process of strengthening engagement of our faculty and students has begun, with implementation of the new educational program to begin with the Fall 2023 semester.

Lastly, under new leadership, active learning instructional strategies and expanded levels of clinical skills simulation and healthcare technologies will occur in our new, state-of-the-art 155,000 square feet educational facility, the Center for Medical Education, which will also house dedicated space for student wellness and mindfulness. These initiatives will position us well to meet the accreditation standards and create an exciting and forward-looking medical educational program that will serve our graduates well throughout their medical careers.

We are excited about this ongoing work that will ultimately make us a stronger institution. We will continue to provide progress updates to our community moving forward.

Sincerely,

David Lewis, MD, MBA
Dean, School of Medicine
LSU Health Shreveport

David Guzick, MD, PhD
Chancellor
LSU Health Shreveport

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