HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine has received a full eight-year accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the maximum period of accreditation a school can receive.

The accreditation process involved a two-year period during which teams of faculty, staff and students produced an extensive self-study, which was submitted to the LCME in December 2018. The self-study was then comprehensively reviewed by an LCME survey team prior to a three-day site visit during spring 2019. Following the site visit, a report was submitted to the accrediting body, where discussions and a final report were generated this month. 

“This is a tremendous achievement for a school of medicine,” said Joseph I. Shapiro, M.D., dean of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. “The LCME continues to raise the bar for medical education, and I am so pleased with how our school has worked to meet and exceed those benchmarks. Although many, many people were involved in preparing for this accreditation review, I need to particularly call out the efforts of Dr. Bobby Miller, our vice dean for medical education, who coordinated this entire process.”

“This was clearly a team effort,” Miller said. “In fact, it was notable how impressed the site visitors were that our entire medical school was so deeply and thoroughly invested. I serve as an LCME reviewer myself, and I can honestly say that it is unusual to see a school like ours with such widespread commitment to the quality improvement process that leads to accreditation.”

During that same time, Marshall’s School of Medicine was preparing for a major revision to its medical education curriculum. In June 2019, the school submitted its revised curriculum plans, which merge pre-clinical and clinical education into an active-learning format, to the LCME. Although the LCME does not decide whether a school can move forward with curriculum changes, the LCME accreditation notice validated that the school has the necessary resources to proceed with implementing the new curriculum during the 2020-2021 academic year.  

The LCME reviewed the survey team’s report from its site visit as well as the School of Medicine’s curriculum modification notice in making its decision.

The next full survey visit for Marshall’s School of Medicine will be during the 2026-2027 academic year. During the interim period, the school will continue to make adjustments and monitor key areas, including career advising, through a continuous quality improvement process.

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Media Contact: Sheanna M. Spence, Director of External Affairs, School of Medicine, 304-691-1639

Date Posted: Wednesday, October 30, 2019