Two years ago, the only historically black medical school west of the Mississippi faced a grim prognosis after county officials pulled the plug on its relationship with a troubled hospital. Today the medical school that has reportedly trained about a third of Los Angeles County's black and Hispanic physicians is back on its feet and planning an ambitious expansion. This article reports on Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, a historically black medical school that had lost its teaching hospital, and how the university plans to open its own four-year medical program. Even though California's economy has tanked, and the university still lacks an affiliated teaching hospital, it hopes to expand from a two-year to a four-year school over the next five years. Charles Drew University, which includes undergraduate and graduate allied health degrees, is also building a nursing school, slated to open this fall. According to Susan Kelly, the university's first female and first nonminority president, the university is a little, mission-driven place that wants to be recognized for providing the best care for the poorest people. Ms. Kelly, an Australian native whose 2006 appointment rankled many members of the predominantly black and Hispanic community surrounding the medical school, has disarmed critics with her fierce commitment to its mission of serving the underserved, as well as her sense of humor.