The country’s four historically Black medical schools have received a total of $600 million in an investment by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The gift, per an announcement, is the largest ever received by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The funding will go to Meharry Medical College, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Howard University College of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine.
“Addressing health disparities and underrepresentation in the medical field are critical challenges, and Bloomberg Philanthropies is dedicated to making a difference,” Bloomberg said in the announcement. “By building on our previous support, this gift will empower new generations of Black doctors to create a healthier and more equitable future for our country.”
The gift is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, which seeks to advance racial wealth equity by addressing systemic underinvestment in Black institutions. The foundation also gave seed funding to help start a new medical school at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans—a collaboration between Xavier and Ochsner Health.
Research shows Black patients have better outcomes when they are cared for by a Black provider, yet fewer than 6% of doctors are Black.
The gift of $175 million to Meharry is the largest in its history “by a wide margin,” confirmed James E.K. Hildreth, M.D., president and CEO of the college. It brings the school’s total endowment to $368 million. Hildreth heard directly from Michael Bloomberg that “he wants to support these four schools and their mission of training Black doctors, because of the impact they have on the communities they serve,” Hildreth told Fierce Healthcare.
Meharry is on a mission to eliminate disparities and improve equity through a diverse U.S. workforce, Meharry leaders said.
The current cost of tuition at Meharry’s med school is nearly (PDF) $56,000 annually, with the total cost of attendance coming out to more than $97,000 annually on average. The school disperses around $80 million in loans annually, and it is not unusual for graduating med students to have $300,000 in debt, Hildreth said. The school has limited scholarships available, which are largely limited to students from particular backgrounds. They range from $5,000 to $30,000. The Bloomberg investment will allow more scholarship options to expand.
A large driver of high costs of attendance is the escalating cost of housing in Nashville, where the college is based, per Hildreth. “This is truly an extraordinary gift by any measure,” Hildreth said of the Bloomberg donation. “Certainly for us, it’s transformative, but we have other needs.”
One of those is a strong desire to shift toward a self-directed learning model, Hildreth explained, which is a more effective method of teaching. Throughout history, education has traditionally consisted of teachers lecturing students.
“It’s a great way to teach, but it’s a terrible way to learn,” Hildreth noted.
Many students would benefit from smaller groups, hands-on learning and self-directed education. Shifting from a model of didactic studies to self-directed learning requires investment in technology and facilities, Hildreth said. Meharry opened a new center last summer that combines residential and learning spaces that are designed for smaller group learning.
“Rather than now spending eight hours in a classroom, students are now spending half the day in the classroom,” Hildreth said. The rest of the time, they can partake in smaller group sessions, go over material on their own and meet with professors during office hours.
While the Bloomberg gift will be going toward Meharry’s endowment with the goal of supporting Black physicians in training, Hildreth hopes to possibly also use some of the investment for the college’s other schools. That will be figured out in ongoing conversations with the foundation, he said.
The country’s HBCU med schools educate about half of Black doctors in the U.S., but they continue to face underfunded (PDF) endowments. The Biden administration has invested a record $16 billion over the years in HBCUs. The latest gift follows a $34 million investment that Bloomberg Philanthropies made to Meharry in 2020 and an additional $6 million in 2021.