Official Statement of Responsibility and Commitment to Graduate Medical Education
The Board of Trustees of the UPMC Medical Education (UPMCME), the Presidents of the member organizations, and the UPMCME Graduate Medical Education Committee are committed to graduate medical education as our primary responsibility and mission.
We work to provide the highest quality education possible in the art and science of medicine. We direct that our patients receive unparalleled quality and the safest care. We endeavor to select and retain the most qualified applicants. Integral to our efforts in the continuing advancement of the profession of medicine is the mission of scholarship, research, evidence-based care, and continual clinical innovation. We foster and require an ethical atmosphere; one of collegiality among our faculty, learners and academic leadership. The UPMCME ensures the highest levels of professional leadership for its Graduate Medical Education programs. We are committed to ensuring that the academic infrastructure, economic supports, educational, organizational, and human resources provided to our Graduate Medical Education programs will serve to provide residents with an optimal environment for them to achieve and advance in their learning and profession.
As the UPMCME has expanded nationally and internationally, it has become important to formalize the Scope of Authority and Responsibility of the UPMCME Board and its Graduate Medical Education Committee. It is noted that although some individual facilities sponsor Graduate Medical Education programs in various specialties and under several accrediting organizations, the facility’s membership within UPMC requires that such programs follow the regulations, procedures, and counsel of the UPMCME and its academic governance group — the Graduate Medical Education Committee.
Pursuant to the above goals, the board has unanimously approved that the UPMCME, through its Graduate Medical Education Committee, has the sole system authority and responsibility for all UPMC Graduate Medical Education training across the system, both nationally and internationally. This includes ACGME, AOA, CPME, GMEC REVIEWED, as well as SIEPS and UPMC-based ADA-approved programs. The Graduate Medical Education Committee will continue to provide leadership and guidance that includes regulating internal quality assessments, reviews, and the process for the improvement of the programs and decisions related to the reallocation of system resources in Graduate Medical Education. Further, the Graduate Medical Education Committee is empowered to enforce actions on each program regardless of the sponsor or accrediting body, and to improve or close programs that are not in compliance with the standards for quality and integrity mandated by this body.
Sincerely yours,
W. Dennis Zerega, EdD
Vice President
Graduate Medical Education
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Rita M. Patel, MD
ACGME/NRMP Designated Institutional Official
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Medical Education Program