The University of Southern California will lose its cardiology fellowship accreditation after more than a year of unrest within the medical school, the Los Angeles Times reported April 25.
According to the Times, USC’s cardiology fellowship program, a joint endeavor run by USC and Los Angeles County, will lose its accreditation next year, “effectively shutting it down.” The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, or ACGME, also imposed immediate probation on USC and the county, which co-sponsor more than 60 programs together.
The announcement came from Laura Mosqueda, dean of USC’s medical school, in a memo to faculty Thursday. She said the ACGME’s decision was based on outside experts’ concerns about “resident safety and wellness processes” and was final.
USC’s cardiology fellowship was first pushed into the national spotlight in 2017 when a former medical resident claimed a fellow sexually assaulted her under her scrubs during work—a report that encouraged two other women to come forward with allegations against the same physician. The victim’s case is still pending, and her attorney on Thursday said her client’s complaint was unconnected the ACGME investigation, noting, “There is no one to blame but the people in power who had the ability to correct the inequities and failed to do so.”
Changes to the fellowship will take effect in June 2020, which will allow two classes of current fellows to graduate. According to the Times, USC said it would ideally open a new cardiology fellowship program before the current one closes.
Read the full story from the L.A. Times below:
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.