Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine Receives Full Accreditation

Kaiser Permanente’s Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena announced Tuesday it has received full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which accredits medical education programs leading to M.D. degrees in the United States and Canada. 

The accreditation signifies that the school’s students, faculty and programs meet key standards. 

The accreditation covers a five-year term, the maximum length granted to a new school, Kaiser Permanente said in a statement. 

The LCME determined that the Tyson school met its standards, which include demonstrating that its graduates exhibit general professional competencies that are appropriate for entry to the next stage of training and that its programs serve as the foundation for lifelong learning and proficient medical care.

“Receiving full accreditation from the LCME is a major milestone for our school and one that we all have been working towards since I got here seven years ago and even before,” Dr. Mark Schuster, the school’s Founding Dean and Chief Executive Officer, said. 

Schuster credited the “monumental efforts” of the school’s faculty, staff, students and board, as well as support from Kaiser Permanente and a warm welcome from the City of Pasadena.

In February, five committee site visitors spent three days at the Tyson School’s campus meeting with over 100 members of the school community to learn more about its medical education programs. Joe Gayk, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine Senior Director of Accreditation and Strategy, and Dr. Abbas Hyderi, the school’s Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education, served as Liaison Committee on Medical Education site visit lead and faculty accreditation lead, respectively.

The school previously received preliminary and provisional accreditation from the committee and is eligible for select federal grants and programs. The school’s accreditation team has been working toward this goal since long before it opened in 2020, submitting its first data collection instrument in the summer of 2018.

“I am pleased to learn that the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine has earned full accreditation awarded by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education,” said Dr. Holly J. Humphrey, the school’s Board Chair. “This is an important milestone for a new medical school, and I am grateful to all who have worked tirelessly toward this goal for many years.”

The statement said the school’s curriculum is built on three pillars: biomedical science, clinical science and health systems science. It aims to teach students to think broadly about the ways care can be more effective for everyone and to advocate for better health in homes, schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.