This Black History Month, America’s Essential Hospitals proudly spotlights four essential health systems for their dedicated affiliations with the nation’s only four historically Black medical schools:
- Howard University College of Medicine and Howard University Hospital.
- Meharry Medical College and Nashville General Hospital.
- Morehouse School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital.
- Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.
Medical schools operated by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) currently make up just 2.3 percent of the nation’s medical schools, yet in 2019, produced 9.8 percent of Black medical school graduates.
HBCU medical schools are critical in producing the next generation of caregivers that can offer firsthand, culturally sensitive care in the communities they serve.
A 2022 study by the Association of American Medical Colleges revealed that just 5.7 percent of doctors in the United States are Black, a figure that these medical schools hope to increase in generations to come.
“Our nation is facing a shortage of doctors in underserved communities. The need for teaching hospitals affiliated with HBCUs is more significant than ever before,” says Anita Jenkins, MBA, CEO of association member Howard University Hospital (HUH). “They serve as a pipeline, training diverse groups of physicians who are sent back into communities to help eliminate disparities by providing high-quality care to all populations.”
Founded in 1862 and initially called the Freedmen’s Hospital, HUH provided medical care to former enslaved people who were denied care elsewhere.
The hospital partnered with the Howard University College of Medicine in the late 1860s to train Black medical professionals, and today, HUH is the nation’s only teaching hospital located on the campus of a historically Black university.
Nashville General Hospital, in Nashville, has a long history with Meharry Medical College, also in Nashville.
Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, Meharry was the first medical school open to Black students in the south.
As the hospital plans the construction of a new hospital site, Joseph Webb, DSc, MSHA, FACHE, CEO of Nashville General Hospital, told Becker’s Hospital Review that the expansion for areas such as acute care, behavioral health, and inpatient services, will play a key role in helping Meharry students prepare for their futures.
“We want to function as a new hospital, state-of-the-art. We are a teaching hospital, so Meharry Medical College utilizes our resources here for training, teaching, and training their students, as well as the local universities here, Tennessee State University, Belmont, Lipscomb,” Webb says. “We also engage with their students in some ancillary and support areas of training as well.”
Meharry seeks more than 1,700 enrollments by 2026, including 900 medical students, 500 dental students and 300 graduate students.
Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) in Atlanta, was founded in 1975 as the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College.
In 1990, the school began its partnership with association member Grady Memorial Hospital, in Atlanta, and in 1992, the Morehouse School of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency program at Grady began. Most of the school’s patient care and clinical training occurs at Grady, and Grady is largely staffed by faculty from Morehouse as well as the Emory School of Medicine.
The majority of MSM’s more than 1,400 alumni continue to honor the school’s mission by serving communities located in rural areas and inner cities.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, in Los Angeles, began its affiliation with essential hospital Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, in Downey, Calif., in 2018 to ease physician shortages and provide equitable health care resources throughout underserved communities in south Los Angeles.
The school offers the offers the only historically black doctor of medicine program west of the Mississippi River, and is also the second-most diverse university in the nation in terms of both student and faculty diversity.
“Our vision for the next generation of physician leaders offers an approach that incorporates the values of a patient centered team-based model to the health care of under-resourced patients; trauma-informed assessment and care; an emphasis on community violence as a public health problem; incorporating socio-environmental determinants of health, illness, and health disparities; and assessing the health needs and resources of vulnerable and marginalized populations,” says Deborah Prothrow-Stith, MD, the school’s dean.
Through these critical partnerships, HBCU medical schools and essential hospitals are changing the future of health equity all while serving the nation’s most underrepresented populations. Their continued efforts have not only transformed patient care, but also brought necessary change and diversity to the face of medicine.
“Black History Month offers an opportunity to honor the legacies of so many remarkable people that have paved a way for all of us,” says Jenkins. “Let’s continue to raise awareness for the advancement of diversity in medicine.”
Author