History

Established in 2005 as AIMU St. Lucia, the university evolved into a cutting-edge medical school that officially commenced instruction in 2007, securing its initial accreditation in 2009. In 2018, the institution underwent a transformative change when it was acquired by a health tech company. Consequently, it underwent a rebranding process, emerging as the Commonwealth University College of Medicine (CUCOM) under new management. CUCOM is dedicated to advancing medical research, education, and training programs, with its research wing overseeing all related activities.

The research conducted by CUCOM unfolded in three distinct phases. The initial phase focused on establishing a web-based virtual delivery system for continuing medical education (CME). Subsequently, the system expanded in the second phase to support primary healthcare delivery through blockchain protocols, ensuring a secure platform for peer-to-peer communication. This phase culminated in the development of a patented blockchain-based application, officially registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in early 2017.

The ongoing third phase of CUCOM’s research centers on medical education. The academic program is crafted around a distinctive integrated delivery model that incorporates early clinical exposure. Following site visits from CAAM-HP in July 2018 and March 2019, CUCOM successfully obtained accreditation in August 2019 and is currently gearing up for its second accreditation. Beyond CAAM-HP, the university has also secured CPD accreditation from the CPD Council UK. Situated in the northern part of St. Lucia, the main campus stands as one of the largest educational campuses in the country, while clinical sites are strategically located in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Atlanta.

Background

Commonwealth University College of Medicine (CUCOM) was established in early 2010 for promoting medical research and educational projects in St. Lucia. The projects were decided to be developed in phases with research activity commencing immediately after the charter of CUCOM. During the last 8 years  the parent company has partnered with several national and international organizations to perform the research activities toward developing virtual health care delivery and lifestyle support applications to support the anticipated changes in medical practice and patient care in the future.

The first phase of the research involved creating a continuing medical education (CME) delivery system through dedicated web based virtual delivery modules in partnership with several physicians and community health facilities in St. Lucia. During the second phase the system was further developed to support primary healthcare delivery through block chain protocols which provided a secured platform for primary care delivery under peer to peer communication. This will also open the possibilities for future research in this platform. This phase further resulted in developing a block chain-based application, which was patented, and certificate of registration obtained from United States patent and Trade Mark Office (USPTO) during the early part of 2017.

The third phase focuses on medical education. At CUCOM, the Academic programme was developed utilizing a unique integrated delivery and early clinical exposure. The application for accreditation was submitted in the month of July 2017 along with necessary accreditation fees and the feedback on the submitted documents was received on October 2017.

CUCOM carried out the necessary revisions and resubmitted in November 2018. Most areas were addressed and comments on the revised submission were received on January 2019. A revised submission was made in March and CUCOM underwent a site visit from CAAM-HP during early April 2019.  

THE MISSION OF CUCOM

The mission of CUCOM is to prepare physicians to provide high quality care to patients and society with compassion, passion for knowledge, commitment, tolerance, utilising cost-effective high-end technology and dedication to life-long learning. The overarching goal of the Medical program is to provide a broad education in a culturally diverse environment.

CUCOM plans to admit qualified students who best represent the mission of the institute and educate these individuals in an integrated manner to produce physicians with appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes and biomedical scientists, dedicated to the care of health needs of society worldwide. Graduates of CUCOM should be able to enter supervised residencies or internships, provide quality care and use self-directed learning skills to advance their medical practice and adapt to the changes in medical practice.

CUCOM is being developed as a next generation medical school, with focus on an integrated system-based curriculum and early clinical exposure. The curriculum will utilize technology to support and develop student learning and preparation for practice in partnership with Medtrics, Lecturio, 3D4Medical and McGraw Hill among others. CUCOM will also emphasize health humanities, social medicine and healthcare ethics. The highly qualified board of Governors of CUCOM , the curricular advisers and financially sound parent company are committed to delivering quality medical education.