Major Investments in Historically Black Medical Schools

In August 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative announced a $600 million investment in the endowments of the nation’s four historically Black medical schools, doubling three of the four medical schools’ endowments. It was the largest-ever individual philanthropic gift received collectively by Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. Seed funding was also given to support the creation of the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine, a new medical school being developed in New Orleans in partnership between Xavier University of Louisiana — one of the top educators in the U.S. of Black students who go on to graduate from medical school — and Ochsner Health — the leading not-for-profit academic health care provider in the Gulf South.

Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine each received a gift of $175 million, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science received $75 million. The new funding will more than double three of the four medical schools’ endowments. Funding levels were determined by current class size and anticipated growth. In addition, the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine received a $5 million grant.

The funding will fuel the institutions’ commitments to diversifying the medical field by training the next generation of Black doctors. It also reflects the Greenwood Initiative’s mission to advance racial wealth equity and address systemic underinvestment in Black institutions and communities.  

The four historically Black medical schools alone graduate around half of all Black doctors in the U.S. but have significantly underfunded endowments as a result of systemic funding inequities such as lower private, federal, and state support. Since the early 1900’s, a combination of factors — including the impacts of the Flexner report and other discriminatory practices and attitudes —  led to the closing of the majority of the Black medical schools in the United States. It is estimated that if these schools had remained open, they would have trained between 25,000 and 35,000 Black physicians.

Research has shown that Black people have better health outcomes and receive medical care more frequently when they are treated by Black physicians. Further, Black patients are 34 percent more likely to receive preventative care if seen by Black doctors. Yet, data shows that while the U.S. population is 13 percent Black, only 7 percent of medical school graduates and less than 6 percent of all practicing doctors are Black.

This new gift builds on earlier investments in these vital institutions. In 2020, Bloomberg Philanthropies gave $100 million — at the time the largest philanthropic gift from a single donor to these institutions — to help reduce the student debt of nearly 1,000 future Black doctors. More than 50 percent of the graduates who benefited from the support selected primary care specialties including internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and the top non-primary care areas chosen were emergency medicine and psychiatry. Additionally, many of the graduates opted to work in underserved communities, urban communities, and public hospitals.

In 2021, Bloomberg Philanthropies gave an additional $6 million to the four schools to expand their efforts providing access to COVID-19 vaccines in their local communities.

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