The University of San Francisco (UCSF)-Fresno Latino Center for Medical Education and Research (LaCMER) has creating a strong educational pipeline with the public schools in Fresno County and is preparing students to graduate from high school with the academic qualifications necessary to enter four-year colleges and universities. The program also increases the quality and quantity of the Latino applicant pool to health professions schools, trains Latino physicians to serve as faculty in local health professions programs, and establishes a strong research program in the Central Valley with a focus on the health care of Latinos and other underserved populations.
Institution:
University of California - San Francisco
Academic Level:
Baccalaureate
Issue Area:
Academic Program
Issue Area:
Retention
Year:
2008
Designation:
Examples of Excelencia
Designation:
Honorable Mention
Key Personnel:
Flores, Katherine
Address:
University of California, San Francisco
Address 2:
513 Parnassus Ave, Rm S-126
City:
San Francisco
State:
CA
Zip:
94143 Goal/Mission:
The mission of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF)-Fresno's Latino Center for Medical Education and Research’s (LaCMER) is to increase the number of Latino healthcare professionals in the Central Valley of California.
Outcome:
Sunnyside High School in Fresno had been identified by researchers at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University as a “drop-out factory," a disparaging designation for those schools where more than 40% of freshmen don’t graduate. Since 2003, the year of the first Doctors Academy graduating class at Sunnyside, through the 2006-07 school year, 161 DA participants have enrolled as first time college freshmen. Ninety percent of DA graduates enrolled in a four-year college: 32% in a California State University campus; 45% in a University of California campus; 12% in a private four-year school; and 7% out of state. The remainder (n=13) opted to start at a community college. One hundred percent of DA graduates were accepted into a four-year college/university. Forty-one students (25%) from the five cohorts of DA graduating seniors were selected as valedictorians. DA graduates who enroll at Fresno State continue to receive services under LaCMER, such as networking opportunities with health professionals; MCAT, PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test), and DAT prep courses; interview simulations; a summer leadership workshop; and a clinical research experience with a professional health preceptor. The students also visit two health professions schools where they meet with admissions staff, and medical, dentistry, or pharmacy students. Inasmuch as most of the students in the program are just now entering their college senior year, outcomes indicating their acceptance and matriculation into health professions schools are not yet available.
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