Team of medical professionals meeting

“Redefining Healthcare for an Underserved Community”

Elaine Batchlor (MED ’83) will give the School of Medicine’s Dean’s Distinguished Lecture as part of homecoming festivities Friday, Oct. 12, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Research Building auditorium.

Photo of Elaine BatchlorBatchlor, CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in California, will present “Redefining Healthcare for an Underserved Community.”

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital opened in 2015 to fill the gap in care when the one public hospital in South Los Angeles closed in 2007 due to poor performance.

Batchlor’s talk will explore how the hospital is a unique partnership between a private, not-for-profit organization and Los Angeles County.

The hospital has garnered accolades for its technology and has been cited as an example of how a safety-net hospital can provide high-quality care to a population with some of the worst health indicators in the nation.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital is implementing a comprehensive approach to health, including the formation of a medical group to recruit physicians to a community with a historical deficit of quality providers and new collaborations to address social determinants of health.