The Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC) was established over two decades ago, in 2004, in response to an increasing demand for physician-leaders who are culturally sensitive and linguistically competent to address the specific needs of California's Latinas/os/és. Administered through the UC Irvine School of Medicine, the combined five-year medical degree/master’s program includes three courses taught by faculty in the Department of Chicano/Latino Studies, with an expertise in Latina/o/é health.  

These seminar-style courses are designed to help physicians-in-training think carefully and critically about the social determinants of illness and health, the social and cultural lives of Latinos in California, the culture of biomedicine in which they train and work, and how assumptions of biomedical culture influence patient treatment and outcomes.

Under the mentorship of faculty from both the School of Medicine and Chicano/Latino studies, all PRIME-LC medical students develop a master’s project plan as part of the second-year seminar course.  Faculty also continue to work with PRIME-LC residents on community-based projects.

To learn more about this program, visit the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s PRIME-LC Residency Track.