The Charles R. Drew University Office of CME offers excellent continuing medical education that enhances the ability of faculty and community physicians to deliver patient care.
The overarching goal of CDU’s Continuing Medical Education is to enhance physician competence and performance, ultimately improving patient care within under-resourced populations and reducing healthcare disparities.
Charles R. Drew University is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. Many of our accredited initiatives, however, target the entire healthcare team, and you can expect to learn from noted experts in their fields.
The CME Mission
Our mission is to provide excellent accredited CE. At CDU, we place particular emphasis on primary care, specialty care, and research clusters focused on high-impact problems in under-resourced and minority communities, including factors and conditions that contribute to healthcare disparities. The CDU CE Program is designed to enhance physicians’ ability to lead within the healthcare team and implement evidence-based medicine. Our accredited CE program uses ACGME/ABMS core competencies as the basis for its content, ensuring we meet our learners’ needs.
CME Initiatives and Accredited Activities
Friday Noon Lecture Series in the College of Medicine
Fridays | 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. | Zoom
Contact: Ashley McGilchrist
This series provides physicians and healthcare professionals with current, evidence-based clinical knowledge to support high-quality patient care and improve clinical outcomes. It targets both clinical and non-clinical topics relevant to improving measured health disparities. CDU’s faculty, staff, students, and community healthcare professionals comprise the target audience.
- September 4, 2026: Heavy Hitters: GLP-1 Medications for Treatment of Addiction | Michael Weaver, MD, DFASAM
- September 11, 2026: Amy Day Rossa, EdD, MBA
- November 20, 2026: Yehuda Handelsman, MD, FACP, FNLA, FAHA, MACE
- January 9, 2026: Kristin Guilliams, MD MSCI; Mind the Gap: Ensuring outpatient success of inpatient care
- January 23, 2026: Julia Parish-Morris, PhD; Clues to Understanding Social Communication in Autistic Girls and Women
- January 30, 2026: Gyanesh Agarwal, MD, FASAM; Approach to Therapy in Persons with Substance Use Disorder
- February 6, 2026: Edward Christopher Dee, MD; From Indications to Access: Expanding Evidence and Promoting Global Collaboration 28 August
- February 20, 2026: Shervin Assari, MD, MPH; Health Disparities Due to Diminished Returns of Educational Attainment Among Immigrant Populations: Global Health Implications
- February 27, 2026: Mona Mojtahedzadeh, MD, FACLP; Psychotropic Management in Medically Complex Patients: Strategies for Antidepressant and Anxiolytic Selection in a Primary Care Setting
- March 6, 2026: Elaine Pico, MD, MA, FAAP, FAAPM & R; Physicians in All of Their Complexity: Strengths, Stressors, Wellness, and Suicide
- March 13, 2026: Bharathi Upadhya, MD; Early to Rehabilitation, Early to Thrive: Early Cardiac Rehabilitation for Hospitalized Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure
- March 27, 2026: Theodore Friedman, MD, PhD and Shaun Chandna, DO, FACP, AGAF; MASLD and MASH: Implications for Screening, Risk Stratification, and Current Treatment Strategies
- April 10, 2026: Andrea Freeman, JD; Food Oppression – Not for Credit
- April 17, 2026: Laura Morrison, MD, FAAHPM, FACP; Optimal Dementia Care: Where Should Palliative Care Enter and What Role?
- April 24, 2026: Ayesha Sherzai, MD; Prevention of Stroke and Vascular Cognitive Impairment
- May 1, 2026: Columbus Batiste, MD, FACC, FSCAI; Rejecting the Null: The Cardiovascular Science Behind “Racism Is a Health Crisis”
- May 8, 2026: Darshan Mehta, MD, MPH; Exploring the History of Mind-Body Medicine: A Holistic Approach to Health and Well-being
- May 15, 2026: Milda Saunders, MD, MPH; Optimizing CKD Care: Evidence-Based Strategies to Improve Quality and Outcomes
- May 29, 2026: Joseph Thomas, MD; Acute MI and Cardiac Systems of Care
Psychiatry Grand Rounds in the College of Medicine
Wednesdays | 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. | Zoom
Contact: Ashley McGilchrist
Explores systemic and structural disparities and novel ideas within the field of psychiatry to improve physician knowledge and competence required to help and support the under-resourced patient population of the South Los Angeles community.
- January 21, 2026: Keris Myrick, MS, MBA; Reproductive Psychiatric Advance Directives: An Innovative Approach to Reproductive Justice in Mental Health Care
- February 4, 2026: Bita Amani, PhD & Brandi Desjolais EdD; Beyond the Biomedical: Reproductive Justice and Mental Health
- March 4, 2026: Mark Ragins, MD; Reconceptualizing Mental Health to Achieve Recovery
- April 1, 2026: Ashley Weiss, DO, MPH and Serena Chaudhry, DSW, LCSW-BACS, MPH; Psychosis Is Real, So Is Recovery: The Last Decade of Early Psychosis Intervention in Louisiana
Medical Grand Rounds at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center
Fourth Thursday of the Month | 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. | Microsoft Teams
Contact: Laura Zuniga (562) 385-7161
This series is aimed at clinicians and covers a range of interdisciplinary topics relevant to patient management and care.
- August 27, 2026: Brian Clawson
- September 24, 2026: Swati Rao
- October 22, 2026
- November 19, 2026
- December 2026: No Medical Grand Rounds
- January 22, 2026: Robin Chand, MD; Transplant 101: Debunking Myths and Building Understanding
- February 26, 2026: Khurram Khan, MD; Pain Management
- March 19, 2026: Brooke Guerrero, MD; Updates to MS Diagnostic Criteria
- April 23, 2026: Susan Claster, MD & Gigi Simmons, MD; Caring for Patients with Sickle Cell
- May 28, 2026: Jena Pizula, MD; Cardiac Rehab in Cardio Obstetrics
- June 25, 2026: Sandhya Ravikumar, MD; Headaches
- July 23, 2026: Nichelle Megowan, MD; The Role of Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion
Grand Rounds at Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital
Fourth Thursday of the month | 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. | Zoom
Contact: Eva McGhee
This series provides educational presentations on a wide range of clinical topics, supporting physician learning and improving patient care outcomes. The goal of this initiative is to enhance the quality of care by adopting a compassionate, collaborative approach to improve patient health in a community hospital setting in Los Angeles.
- August 27, 2026: Myron Hall, DPM
- September 24, 2026
- October 22, 2026: Odelia Cooper, MD
- November 19, 2026
- December 17, 2026
- January 22, 2026: Rahn Bailey, MD, DLFAFA, ACP; The Epigenetics of Adolescent Violence: A Structured Clinical Approach
- March 26, 2026: Mark Holguin, MD; Transforming Health: An Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine
- April 23, 2026: Ashley Prosper, MD; Opportunities to Improve Health Equity through Lung Cancer Screening
- May 28, 2026: Robert Andalon, MD; From Soil to Systole: The Case for Community Gardening as a Viable Public Health Intervention
- June 25, 2026: Adaure Amuzie, MD; Advancing Care in South Los Angeles: Access to Dermatology Outpatient Care as a Model for Overcoming Barriers to Specialty Care and Building Sustainable Solutions
- July 23, 2026: James G. Taylor VI, MD; Best Practices for Sickle Cell Disease: A Hospital Based Primer
PCP Adult Didactic Webinar Series at the Ambulatory Care Network of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
Second Tuesday of every other month | 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. | Microsoft Teams
Contact: Priscilla Lui
This series targets adult primary care providers practicing within the Ambulatory Care Network, as well as healthcare professionals who serve or may serve patients in an ambulatory care setting.
- August 11, 2026: Shona Lowe
- December 8, 2026: Ezequiel Andrade
- February 10, 2026: Shaun Chandna, DO, FACP, AGAF; MASLD, MASH, and Cirrhosis: What Primary Care Needs to Know – Not for Credit
- April 14, 2026: Kam Kalantar, MD, MPH, PhD; Management of Diabetic Kidney Disease: From Prevention and Early Detection to Advanced CKD
- June 9, 2026: Anuja Shah, MD; Hypertension Basics 2026
Multidisciplinary Journal Club at the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center
Targets physicians and other healthcare professionals with medical literature, which serves as a basis for discussion regarding its application to practice improvement and patient care.
Tumor Board at the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center
Targets a multidisciplinary audience and features complex patient cases across various tumor types.
Primary Care Conference at the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center
This series explores systemic and structural disparities, as well as novel ideas, within psychiatry to improve physicians’ knowledge and competence in supporting the under-resourced patient population in the South Los Angeles community.
Students Research Day
This initiative is an interprofessional education series that will specifically address high-impact problems in underserved and minority communities, including the social determinants of health (factors and conditions that influence health disparities), and will be applicable to primary care, specialty providers, and other healthcare professionals.
Annual/Special Initiatives
The Office of CME may accredit half-day and full-day conferences throughout the year.
