From world-class medical schools to bustling private clinics, many Angelenos enjoy access to the best medical care available. But within this lush landscape are health care deserts, leaving some historically disadvantaged communities without affordable doctors nearby. Since 1981, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has partnered with Charles R. Drew University School of Medicine and Science in the Watts-Willowbrook neighborhood of South Los Angeles to train doctors committed to practicing in the parts of the city where they are most needed.
"If our students have one thing in common, it's that they want to provide health care for underserved, under- resourced populations," said CDU president and CEO Dr. David Carlisle. "In fact, I would say the central motivation for a lot of our students is the desire to return to the community that they grew up in in order to make it a better, healthier place."
Carlisle, a board-certified internal medicine specialist who also has a master's in public health and a doctorate in health services research from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, knows that motivation firsthand.
"I grew up in one of those L.A. communities. The health care that the people around me received was nothing like the care that I later saw in more affluent settings, and I went into medicine to provide care in communities where doctors are hard to find," he said.
After completing his residency at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center, Carlisle repaid his student loan obligation by working at the Watts Health Center.
Students participating in the Charles R. Drew University/UCLA Medical Education Program receive their medical education at UCLA and complete their required clinical rotations in South Los Angeles. Carlisle said that this program has graduated over 40 classes. Most of the students come from the very underserved, under-resourced neighborhoods they intend to later serve. A 2007 study found that 55% of the Drew/UCLA graduates practice in underserved communities.
The program has been so successful that it has evolved into the standalone Urban Health Equity Pathway at the David Geffen School of Medicine and has helped CDU become the 157th accredited medical school in the country in 2022. CDU will graduate its first class of doctors in 2027, and the Drew/UCLA program will graduate its last.
"The Drew/UCLA partnership is transitioning into a new era. UCLA has its own program now, and we have opened our own four-year medical school," said Carlisle.
Carlisle has been affiliated with the UCLA Department of Medicine for more than three decades. He became a tenured associate professor in 1998 and, more recently, held an adjunct professor of medicine position. From 2000 to 2011, he served as director of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. In that capacity, he developed the department's first-ever health disparities reports and increased scholarship and loan-repayment opportunities for health providers committed to practicing in underrepresented, under-resourced and underserved communities. He is a past senior fellow at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and sat on the advisory council of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Carlisle said that students choose to attend programs like the one between UCLA and Drew because they are passionate about working to end health disparities. He said that they are looking for fulfillment and gratification beyond the economic, and health care provides that in a way that few other professions do.
"The best thing about being a doctor isn't where you work or how much money you make. You can be anywhere in the world, working at a free clinic or someplace where patients line up for hours or even days to see you. But wherever you are, when you finish seeing a patient, they typically will extend their hand and say, 'Thank you, Doctor, thank you for making my life better,' said Carlisle. "And that's an inspiring statement that supercharges your passion to continue to provide health care."
