The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in the United States and Canada.
Accreditation is a voluntary, peer-review process designed to attest to the educational quality of new and established academic programs. Our MD degree program is fully accredited by the LCME.
Since beginning its LCME preliminary accreditation survey in 2007, the College of Medicine has engaged in processes to ensure compliance with LCME standards and elements. Senior administrative staff developed procedures for assessing medical education program outcomes that aligned with LCME accreditation standards, leading to the achievement of full accreditation in 2013.
Following a survey visit in October 2017, the LCME voted to continue full accreditation of the medical education program for an 8-year term. The next LCME survey visit will occur in the academic year 2025–2026.
LCME Accreditation Visit
The Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine LCME Accreditation Visit will be on October 27-29, 2025.
How to Achieve Accreditation
To achieve and maintain accreditation, a medical education program leading to an MD degree program in the United States must demonstrate appropriate performance in the standards and elements in the LCME's Functions and Structure of a Medical School.
Accreditation by the LCME establishes eligibility for federal grants and student financial aid. Students seeking an MD must attend an LCME-accredited school to take the United States Medical Licensing Examinations. Graduates of LCME-accredited schools are eligible for Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education accredited residency programs.
Accreditation Process
The accreditation process has two general and related aims: to promote self-evaluation by members of the medical education community to use as a guide for improvement and to determine whether a medical education program meets accreditation standards.
Fully accredited medical education programs are reviewed on an eight-year cycle to determine compliance with LCME accreditation standards.
The review culminates in a full survey visit and consists of the following steps:
- Completion of the LCME Data collection instrument (DCI), the independent student analysis (ISA) and compilation of other supporting documents
- Analysis of the DCI and other information sources, including the ISA, by an institutional self-study task force and development of the self-study summary report based on this analysis.
- Visit by an ad hoc survey team and preparation by the survey team of the survey report for review by the LCME.
- Action on full accreditation by the LCME
LCME Accreditation Timeline
LCME Accreditation Leads
Rebecca Lyn Toonkel, M.D., Faculty Accreditation Lead and Senior Assoicate Dean for Academic Affairs, and Janelle M. Fernandez, Site Visit Coordinator and Director of Accreditation, oversee the LCME Accreditation Task Force, the LCME self-study process, and several sub-committees that posses knowledge of the medical education program.
The task force and subcommittees identify institutional strengths and areas of concern and devise strategies to maintain, enhance or bring about change.
Rebecca Lyn Toonkel
Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Associate Professor
305-348-4567
rtoonkel@fiu.edu
AHC2 472
Janelle M. Fernandez
Director of Accreditation
305-348-1459
jamafern@fiu.edu
AHC2 663A
LCME Subcommittees
Standard Chairs
Sonia Benitez, CPA; Standards 1, 2 and 5
Rebecca Toonkel, MD; Standards 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9
Jorge Camillo Mora, MD; Standard 4
Sarah Stumbar, M.D., MPH Standards 10, 11 and 12
Continuous Quality Improvement Committee
A standing Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Committee monitors compliance with LCME accreditation standards, identifies areas of weakness, sets goals for improvement and oversees progress toward these goals on an ongoing basis.
The Office of Institutional Knowledge Management supports the work of the CQI Committee, coordinating data collection and analysis and managing documentation required by the LCME.