Angela McLean, MD Named Associate Dean for Admissions
Dr. Angela McLean has been named as the School of Medicine's new Associate Dean for Admissions.
After receiving her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Dr. McLean returned to New Orleans for her residency in internal medicine at LSU and to serve the patients at Charity Hospital. She served as Chief Resident before her appointment to the faculty in 1995.
“As chief resident, I was very active in recruiting. This background gave me an early understanding of the qualities that make up a good medical student,” she said.
For the past 20 years, she has served on the Admissions Committee and has served on curriculum development, oversight and steering committees for almost as long. She has played an important role in accreditation site visits, and was Medical Director of Student Health for 12 years. She has been active in teaching students and residents for her entire career, served as Co-Director of the Clinical Sciences Curriculum, and has helped develop curricula in the areas of cultural competency, women's health, primary care, and interprofessional education.
Through her service as Director of Student Services in the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement (ODCE), she also became very involved with outreach to under-represented minority (URM) students. She explained that the more involved she became with ODCE activities, the more her interest in undergraduate education evolved.
“My involvement with ODCE and UME (undergraduate medical education) really solidified for me what makes a good medical student - empathy and resiliency. In addition, diversity makes for an outstanding medical school class and enhances the overall learning environment."
Dr. McLean has been active with Days with Docs and interacting with students who come to campus. As a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Xavier University, she has been particularly active in recruiting efforts locally. In her new role, she hopes to get personally involved with recruiting throughout the state.
Her goal for the next five to 10 years is to have a diverse medical school class that will address the healthcare disparities of our state, since the LSU School of Medicine educates the vast majority of Louisiana's future physicians.
“Studies consistently show that people trust physicians who look like them and speak the same language,” she said. “It is a critical component of providing the best patient care.”
“I want to increase the number of URM students, especially from rural areas. I hope to play a part in creating a class that understands the issues of the population of Louisiana,” she said. “By having a diverse class, we will increase access to healthcare for vulnerable populations, increase patient satisfaction, and increase the cultural sensitivity of providers.”
Dr. McLean said that as part of this overall goal, she wants to bring technology into the holistic evaluation of applicants, particularly the interview process.
Dr. McLean described the last five years as challenging in terms of recruiting URMs as the cost of a medical education has continued to rise. She said the lack of scholarships available to the School of Medicine hurts their ability to recruit URMs, especially African American men.
“These men - all more than well qualified - receive full scholarships to attend medical school elsewhere,” she said. “Institutions all over the country recruit these individuals, so we are working to stress the advantages of a medical school education here at LSU.”
Dr. McLean has been very involved with the School's pipeline programs, but sees another challenge even at this early stage.
“With the nationwide prioritization of STEM, we are seeing greater competition from engineering and computer science programs for our future medical students. I think we need to do a better job of reaching out to students at the earliest ages, working with them at an even younger age to let them know about the wonders of a career in medicine,” she said.
One program that has been very successful is a pre-matriculation program designed for newly accepted medical students. Participants attend the program for three to four weeks over the summer and meet faculty and attend mini-lectures. This optional program is open to all students, but disadvantaged and non-traditional students are given preference. “It is truly an outstanding program, and we have seen over the years that the students who participate generally do better in medical school,” she said.
In addition to her service to the School, Dr. McLean has worked with the AAMC and SNMA on development of minority faculty and women faculty.
“Dr. McLean has been an outstanding clinician throughout her career at LSU. She has been a mainstay in our resident supervision primary care clinics, as well as the ambulatory clinics in the LSU HealthCare Network,” said Dr. Steve Nelson, Dean of the School of Medicine. “She is highly respected in the community, having served as Medical Director for Odyssey House, as a collaborating physician with the Musicians Clinic, and recognized as one of New Orleans' Best Doctors.”
Dr. Richard DiCarlo, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Institutional Affairs, added, “Dr. McLean has been invaluable to the school as a clinician, educator, administrator, and community representative. We are thrilled that she will serve as Associate Dean for Admissions and we are confident that she will advance the mission and values of LSUHSC School of Medicine.”