Funding From UniHealth Foundation to Aid Innovative Program

The Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community, an innovative medical training program in the UC Irvine School of Medicine designed to serve the unique needs of the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group, has received a $1 million grant from UniHealth Foundation.

The three-year grant will provide general support for the program, known as PRIME-LC.

"This generous support will be most beneficial to the continued success of PRIME-LC, and it helps validate its importance for the training of tomorrow's doctors," said Dr. Alberto Manetta, senior associate dean of educational affairs in the School of Medicine and director of PRIME-LC. "As Latinos become the largest population group in California and the largest minority group in the nation, meeting this group's medical needs takes on even greater importance in terms of the overall public health."

Launched in 2004 with eight first-year medical students, this unique five-year program combines medical-school training focused on Latino health issues with post-graduate work in environmental health, science and policy. PRIME-LC graduates will earn both a medical and a master's degree with an emphasis on Latino health care disparities, public health or health care policy. The second PRIME-LC class currently is being selected, and 60 medical students will be enrolled in the program by 2008.

Founded in 1998, UniHealth Foundation is an independent private foundation dedicated to supporting activities that significantly improve the health and well being of individuals and communities within the greater Los Angeles-Orange County area. For more information, see www.unihealthfoundation.org.

About the University of California, Irvine: The University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked public university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in 1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California campuses, with more than 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,400 faculty members. The second-largest employer in dynamic Orange County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3 billion.