College of Medicine - Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science

ABOUT US

MISSION
To provide leadership and excellence in Pediatric health care, research, training, education, community service and resource management.

VISION
A premier department providing outstanding health services, education, training, research and opportunities for success for patients, staff, trainees, faculty and community providers.

HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT
Following the Watts Riot of 1965, the McCone Commission studied the causes of the riot and determined that the lack of access to health care was a contributing factor for unrest in the community. They recommended the creation of a public health hospital in the area. In 1966, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the establishment of a general hospital for the Watts, Willowbrook and Compton Area. Support from the State of California was provided for the establishment of an educational component for the hospital, which started in 1967. The enduring leadership of local community citizens and the Charles Drew Medical Society was key to galvanizing wide support from voters and politicians that brought about the creation of the Martin Luther King, Jr. General Hospital and the Charles Drew Postgraduate Medical School. The first patient to be treated at the new hospital entered on March 27, 1972.

Challenged by the awesome health care needs, yet encouraged by the opportunity to build programs in concert with community residents that would address the “health and development of children who are the cultural recipients of a tradition of racial oppression” the Department of Pediatrics was brought into existence in 1970 with the appointment of Robert E. Greenberg, MD, as the first chair, followed in 1971 by the appointments of Robert J. Schlegel, MD, Betti Jo Warren, MD and Vivian Weinstein, MA. The charter developed by the new faculty included:

The Mission for the Department of Pediatrics:
“To assist a community to rear its children for lives of freedom.”

GOALS
To prepare an environment nurturing children “for lives of freedom” the community requires:

Physical and emotional security
The exercise of self-discipline, independent thought and action
An orderly acquisition of basic learning and social skills
A capacity to make moral decisions
Development of a vocation

OBJECTIVES
To provide an environment nurturing children “for lives of freedom” the community requires:

An atmosphere of hope and purpose
Leadership and organization
Economic viability
Childcare, recreation, education and health services
Career development services

Tasks involved in fostering community development required the Department of Pediatrics to:

Create parent organizations
Recruit African American professional leaders to its staff
Prepare the young for careers in the health care profession
Build a system of linked health, childcare, education and recreation services
Provide local employment

The first pediatric patient was seen in the Ambulatory Care Clinic on March 27, 1972. The first pediatric community program, Drew Project Head Start under the leadership of Dr. Ernest Smith, opened in 1972. The first full time resident, Michael Streams, MD, enrolled in July 1971 but spent the first year at Harbor-UCLA because the hospital was not yet open. The nidus for the King/Drew Medical Magnet High School was the work of Dr. Ronald Blood and Dr. Michael Miller.

In the intervening years, hundreds of thousands of children have been touched by the dedicated pediatric staff of the Department of Pediatrics. The faculty has developed thirty-two community programs that have evolved into a network of special programs, centers and services in support of children with special needs. More than four hundred pediatricians have graduated from our pediatric residency training program and are now practicing all over the world providing a living testament to the Mission of the Department of Pediatrics.

…….Betti Jo Warren, MD