Reaccreditation is officially underway at IU School of Medicine, and faculty and school officials celebrated the start of the significant effort at an event held May 15.
“We are here today to officially kick off our effort to maintain full accreditation for IU School of Medicine,” said Paul M. Wallach, MD, executive associate dean for educational affairs. “We have assembled this great group of faculty, administrators and students to help in the first step of the accreditation process where we look inward and evaluate ourselves.”
Dr. Wallach also leads the Accreditation and Continuous Improvement team that will facilitate the self-evaluation process for the next 2 years.
More than 100 committee members will begin their work this summer and are tasked with helping to pinpoint areas where the School of Medicine can improve as it prepares for visits from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education of Accreditation (LCME) survey team in the Spring of 2025.
LCME accreditation is a voluntary, peer-review process of quality assurance that evaluates whether medical schools meet nationally established standards. The LCME typically evaluates medical schools in the US on an 8-year cycle, and IU School Medicine last received full accreditation in 2017.
“We are in better place than in 2017,” said Jay L. Hess, MD, PhD, MHSA, dean of IU School of Medicine and IU’s executive vice president for university clinical affairs. “Over the years, we have worked hard to develop a robust curriculum and deliver it in the most supportive environment possible. This reaccreditation process is an opportunity to continue enhancing our curriculum and innovate in the ways we present and deliver it.”
Bradley L. Allen, MD, PhD, senior associate dean for medical student education, echoed Dean Hess’ sentiment.
“This reaccreditation journey ensures that the nearly 1500 students enrolled in IU School of Medicine continue receiving the best our faculty and administration have to offer,” he said. “The process of self-evaluation also allows us to see where we might improve for the next generation of scholars.”
