Meharry Medical College

Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first medical school for African Americans in the South. While the majority of African Americans lived in the South, they were excluded from many public and private racially segregated institutions of higher education, particularly after the end of Reconstruction.

Meharry Medical College was chartered separately in 1915. In the early 21st century, it has become the largest private historically black institution in the United States solely dedicated to educating health care professionals and scientists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1" /> The school has never been segregated.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Meharry Medical College includes its School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Graduate Studies, School of Applied Computational Sciences, School of Global Health, the Harold D. West Basic Sciences Center, and the Metropolitan General Hospital of Nashville-Davidson County. The degrees that Meharry offers include Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.), Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.), Master of Health Science (M.H.S.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. Meharry is the second-largest educator of African-American medical doctors and dentists in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has the highest percentage of African Americans graduating with Ph.Ds in the biomedical sciences in the country.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved is a public health journal owned by and edited at Meharry Medical College. Around 76% of graduates of the school work as doctors treating people in underserved communities.<ref name=":1" /> School training emphasizes recognizing gaps in health caring to improve health outcomes for all, including populations.<ref name=":2" />

History

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Central Tennessee College (CTC), with Meharry Medical College inset in top right corner, 1895.

Meharry Medical College was one of six medical institutions established between the years of 1876 and 1900 in the state of Tennessee.Template:Sfn These schools were founded after the end of the Civil War when slaves had been freed. Because of their former restrictions, there were as yet few African-American physicians, and many freedmen in need of health care.Template:Sfn Because of segregation, most hospitals would not admit African Americans, and many white physicians often chose not to serve freedmen. During the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, most medical institutions accepted few, if any, African-American students. To combat this shortage of health care and the lack of accessibility to medical education, individuals, such as Samuel Meharry, and organizations, such as the Medical Association of Colored Physicians, Surgeons, Dentists, and Pharmacists (later renamed the National Medical Association), helped to found medical schools specifically for African Americans.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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The Story of Meharry... An Act of Kindness

The college was named for Samuel Meharry, a young Irish American immigrant who worked as a salt and grit trader on the Kentucky-Tennessee frontier.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> After achieving some success, he and four of his brothers later made a major donation to help establish the college.Template:Sfn As a young trader, Meharry had been aided by a family of freedmen, whose names are unknown.Template:Sfn Meharry reportedly told the formerly enslaved family, "I have no money, but when I can I shall do something for your race."<ref name="saltwagon">Template:Cite web</ref>

Students at Central Tennessee College (CTC) approached the college president about setting up a medical school in 1875.Template:Sfn The president, John Braden, approached Samuel Meharry to discuss the proposal.Template:Sfn In 1875, Meharry, together with four of his brothers, donated a total of $15,000 to assist with establishing a medical department at CTC, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee.<ref name=saltwagon/> With the contribution of the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, George W. Hubbard and Braden,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> they opened the Medical College at CTC in 1876 with a starting class of nine students.Template:Sfn The classes took place in the basement of the Clark Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.Template:Sfn The first regular year of classes began in October 1876 and had eleven students in that group.Template:Sfn The medical program was initially two years long, but they added an additional year in 1879 and a fourth year to the course of study in 1893.Template:Sfn

Hubbard, a physician, served as the founding president of the medical college.Template:Sfn The first student graduated in 1877.<ref name=":1" /> The second class, which had its commencement in 1878, had three graduates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1886, the Dental Department was founded, followed by a Pharmacy Department founded in 1889.<ref name="TNenc">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Dental and Pharmaceutical Building was dedicated on October 20, 1889.Template:Sfn By 1896, half of all "regularly educated physicians then practicing in the South" had graduated from Meharry.Template:Sfn

A nurse-training school was also developed during the 1900–1901 school year and the first class had eight students.Template:Sfn A training hospital, Mercy Hospital, was built during the 1901–1902 school year.Template:Sfn This hospital was replaced in 1916 and named the George W. Hubbard Hospital.Template:Sfn Meharry Auditorium, with a 1,000 person capacity, was built in 1904.Template:Sfn

In 1900, CTC changed its name to Walden University.Template:Sfn In 1915, the medical department faculty of Walden University received a separate charter to operate independently as Meharry Medical College.<ref name="TNenc" /> The college continued to be privately funded.Template:Sfn The Medical College remained in its original buildings, and Walden University moved to another campus in Nashville in 1922.Template:Sfn

In 1910, Meharry absorbed medical students from Flint Medical College when that school was closed.Template:Sfn Meharry also graduated a large number of women physicians for the time period, with 39 women having graduated by 1920.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Its reputation suffered in 1914 when it was dropped to Class B status. Abraham Flexner of the General Education Board (a Rockefeller program) provided advice and funding to rebuild its status. As a result in 1923, Meharry was restored to a "grade-A institution" by the American Medical Association (AMA).Template:Sfn<ref> Thomas Neville Bonner, iconoclast Abraham Flexner and a life in learning (2000) pp.188–193.</ref>

Since its founding, Meharry Medical College has added several graduate programs in the areas of science, medicine, and public health. In 1938, the School of Graduate Studies and Research was founded. The first master's degree program, a Master of Science in Public Health, was established in 1947. In the 1950s, the nursing school and dental technology school were ended.<ref name=":1" /> The department of Psychiatry was established in 1961 by school president, Lloyd Charles Elam, a psychiatrist.Template:Sfn During the 1960s, Meharry began to focus on understanding the basis of health outcome differences to improve health care. In 1968, Meharry created the Matthew Walker Health Center to provide health services to the community.Template:Sfn Also in 1968, the school added a Ph.D. degree in basic sciences.<ref name="TNenc" />

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, 83 percent of all African American physicians had been trained at Meharry Medical College and Howard University School of Medicine.Template:Sfn In 1970, more than 60 percent of black medical students worked as residents at these two colleges.Template:Sfn In 1972, Meharry started receiving federal distress grants which were given to medical schools with deficits in operating costs and problems with accreditation.Template:Sfn By 1976, the school campus took up space on 65 acres.Template:Sfn

In 1981, the accrediting body of the AMA put Meharry on probation because there were not enough patients in the Hubbard Hospital for students and the student to teacher ratio was too high.Template:Sfn In 1983, president Ronald Reagan allowed the school to work with patients in the nearby veterans' hospitals and the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital and the college regained full accreditation.Template:Sfn By 1986, around 46 percent of all black faculty members in medical schools had graduated from Meharry.Template:Sfn

In 1972, a Ph.D. program was implemented. A decade later in 1982, Meharry established an M.D/Ph.D. program. In 2004, Meharry created a Master's of Science in Clinical Investigation program (2004).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Hubbard Hospital, belonging to Meharry Medical College, closed in 1994 and was renovated as the new site for the Metropolitan Nashville General Hospital, opening in November 1997.Template:Sfn The year 1994 was also a start for more renovations of campus buildings initiated by campus president, John E. Maupin Jr.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> The school was also suffering from a $49 million deficit and morale at the school was low.<ref name=":3" /> The Nashville General Hospital's lease money, however, helped bring money into the school and eventually, by June 1995, the finances of the school were stabilized.<ref name=":3" /> In 1999, the college formed an alliance with Vanderbilt University.<ref name=":3" />

In 2005, Meharry was censured by the American Association of University Professors for not observing generally recognized principles of academic freedom and tenure.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On November 9, 2017, Meharry, under president James E.K. Hildreth, signed a memorandum of agreement with Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), America's largest for-profit operator of health care facilities. Under the agreement, Meharry's medical students will gain clinical training at HCA's TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center in Nashville.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Meharry students had previously received clinical training at numerous sites, primarily Nashville General Hospital, which had moved on-campus in the 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Withdrawal of the alliance with Meharry threateded the provision of inpatient care at Nashville General Hospital.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A board member resigned over this surprise decision and announcement.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In April 2019, then-dean and senior vice president of health affairs Veronica Mallett secured a partnership with Detroit Medical Center to increase the number of Meharry students complete their studies at that hospital.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Meharry students had been accepted at Sinai-Grace Hospital alongside Michigan State and Wayne State university since July 2018.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>

In September 2020, philanthropist Michael Bloomberg donated $34 million to help lower student debt at the institution. Bloomberg's gift was the largest in Meharry's history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, Meharry launched Meharry Medical College Ventures to aid in galvanizing healthcare breakthroughs and solutions to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities through forming partnerships with medical facilities across the US. Mallett was the inaugural president and CEO,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> serving until 2023. She has been succeeded by Reginald Holt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2022, MacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to Meharry. Scott's unrestricted gift is one of the largest in Meharry's history.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2024, Meharry received a $175 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies to support the school's endowment. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Presidents

George W. Hubbard served as Meharry Medical College's first president from its founding in 1876 until his retirement in 1921.Template:Sfn

The second president of the school was John J. Mullowney, who served from 1921 to 1938.Template:Sfn He implemented changes in order to improve Meharry's overall academic rating. Admission requirements were tightened and strictly enforced, a superintendent was installed at the hospital, and the number of faculty, research facilities, and hospital facilities were all expanded. Two years after Mullowney took leadership, Meharry Medical College recovered its ‘A’ rating.<ref name="TNenc" />

Succeeding Meharry Medical College presidents have been:

• Edward Lewis Turner (1938–1944),Template:Sfn
• M. Don Clawson (1944–1950),Template:Sfn
• Harold D. West (1952–1966),Template:Sfn
• Lloyd C. Elam (1968–1981),<ref name="TNenc" />
• Richard G. Lester (1981–1982),<ref name="TNenc" />
• David Satcher (1982–1993),<ref name=":1" />
• John E. Maupin (1994–2006),<ref name="TNenc" />
• Wayne J. Riley (2006–2013),
• Anna Epps (2013–2015),
• James E.K. Hildreth (2015–present)

From 1950 to 1952 a committee guided the institution instead of a president. In 1952, Meharry welcomed its first African-American president, Dr. Harold D. West.<ref name="TNenc" /> West made numerous changes, made possible by his successful $20 million fund drive. He added a new wing to Hubbard Hospital, eliminated the nursing and the dental technology programs to concentrate Meharry Medical College's efforts on its primary strengths in medicine and dentistry, and purchased land adjacent to the campus for expansion.<ref name="TNenc" />

Research and Innovation

Meharry Medical College has a rich legacy of research focused on advancing biomedical knowledge and improving health outcomes, particularly for underserved populations.

In 1893, Meharry’s first female medical graduate, Georgianna Esther Patton, conducted early epidemiological studies in Liberia, identifying anemia and dropsy as prevalent health issues among the indigenous Kru people of Monrovia. In 1910, physician and chair of pathology, Arthur Melvin Townsend identified pellagra as a nutritional deficiency disorder, publishing his research findings in The Journal of the National Medical Association.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

During the 1950s, under the leadership of Harold D. West, the college's first African American president, a biochemist and cancer researcher, Meharry launched one of the earliest cancer disparities research programs with support from the American Cancer Society.

Since the early 1970s, Meharry has been active in molecular and genetics research. Geneticists Joseph Galley and Thomas Shockley led pioneering research on keloid scarring, a condition disproportionately affecting people of African descent. In 1972, Meharry established the Sickle Cell Center, one of the first ten such centers in the United States, offering diagnostic and healthcare services across 40 counties in Middle Tennessee for newborns with inherited blood disorders.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 2015, physician scientist and HIV researcher, James EK Hildreth was appointed president and shifted Meharry’s research focus toward precision and personalized medicine, integrating genomics, proteomics, molecular imaging, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Between 2013 and 2017, Meharry spent $96 million on research.<ref name=":2" /> In 2019, the college established the Office for Research and Innovation to accelerate interdisciplinary research and innovation across its five schools. The Office oversees grants management, regulatory affairs, shared research core facilities, and technology transfer, and governs Meharry’s intramural research programs and centers in collaboration with the Research Advisory Council.

Since 2020, the Office has been led by Anil Shanker, senior vice president for research and innovation, a cancer immunologist and internationally recognized leader in interdisciplinary health sciences research.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Under his leadership, Meharry strategically diversified its research funding portfolio through new public and private partnerships. Annual sponsored research and research-related funding increased from $29 million in 2020 to $128 million by 2025. Faculty and student engagement in research expanded, with increased participation in sponsored clinical trials and translational science through the Center of Excellence for Clinical and Translational Research.

Meharry Medical College continues to expand its research initiatives to address unmet healthcare needs. Its national and international partnerships include:

• NIH AIM-AHEAD Southeast Hub, advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to transform health outcomes <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Center for Genome Research, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• NSF Innovation-Corps Mid-South Hub, promoting biomedical entrepreneurship <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Partnership to Accelerate Precision Health research at HBCUs <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Dry January USA, a public health initiative promoting a healthier and balanced approach to alcohol consumption in rural and urban populations <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Beacon of Hope program, funded by Novartis, Sanofi and others to enhance clinical and translational research <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development (EQBMED), funded by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, to diversify clinical trials <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Diaspora Human Genomics Institute (DHGI), a non-profit chartered by Meharry Medical College, to improve the quality of the human condition and its environment with a particular focus on persons of African ancestry <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Together for CHANGE (T4C), a biopharma-funded initiative governed by DHGI to build a reference genome database for African ancestry populations and new STEM pathways <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Meharry DNA Learning Center, in collaboration with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, exposing K-12 grade students and educators to DNA biology <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Meharry Medical College has also formed strategic research and academic partnerships with research institutions, including: the University of Memphis, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the University of Zambia,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kaohsiung Medical University of Taiwan,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University of South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In recognition of its global public-private research collaborations and commitment to improving health outcomes, Meharry Medical College was named a member of the United Nations Academic Impact for its contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals related to health and inequality reduction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Office for Research and Innovation also houses the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, a peer-reviewed academic journal owned and edited at Meharry. The journal focuses on contemporary health issues among medically underserved populations in North and Central America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and internally dispossessed indigenous populations worldwide. It is recognized as one of the leading Health Policy journals in the United States by the Kaiser Family Foundation and is designated as a core journal for Public Health Practice by the Medical Library Association.

BS/MD Program

Twelve universities are in partnership with Meharry to better recruit and prepare their best pre-med students for the academic rigor of Meharry. The ten universities are Alabama A&M University, Albany State University, Alcorn State University, Fisk University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Jackson State University, Southern University, Tennessee State University, and Virginia Union University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning Summer 2024, Tuskegee University joined the BS/MD partnership.

Notable alumni

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Dr. Audrey Manley, Deputy Surgeon General of the United States, 1995–1997.

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Dr. Corey Hébert

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Dr. Lloyd Tevis Miller

Name	Class year	Notability
Lucinda Bragg Adams	1907	Prior to her medical degree, a noted composer, writer, and editor.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Daniel Sharpe Malekebu	1917	First Malawian to receive a medical degree; Christian missionary and anti-colonial activist
Template:Sortname	1937	President of the Republic of Malawi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1971	Professor of psychiatry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Emmett Ethridge Butler	1934	Physician and community leader in Gainesville, Georgia, and President, Georgia State Medical Association
Template:Sortname		Transplant surgeon, chairman of department, Howard University College of Medicine and founder Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Sortname	1975	First African-American woman doctor to enter the United States Navy.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:Sortname	2003	Biochemist and professor at Meharry.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1917	Early Chicago physician and surgeon.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Sortname	1882	Founder of Morris College.<ref name="Simmons1887">Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Sortname		First African American physician in Arizona.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1905	Prominent surgeon who is credited for 30,000 operations, was a member of Meharry faculty for 29 years.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Template:Sortname	1960	Leader of the civil rights movement in St. Augustine, Florida that led to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964
Template:Sortname	1994	Celebrity physician, radio talk show host, chief medical editor for National Broadcasting Company for the Gulf Coast, first Black chief resident of pediatrics at Tulane University, chief executive officer of Community Health TV.<ref name="coreyh">Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Sortname		Tennis Instructor for Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, Physician and Educator.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname		First African American surgeon, city commissioner, and mayor of Lakeland, Florida.
Template:Sortname	1944	South Carolina-born dentist who emigrated to Ghana in 1956 and operated a dental practice there for nearly five decades until his retirement in 2002.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1895	Professor emeritus of physiology, hospital surgeon for Company G, unattached, (colored) of Tennessee State Guard, secretary of Meharry Alumni Association, member of Colored Methodist Episcopal Church.
Template:Sortname	1886	Physician and writer and civil rights activist in Texas and Los Angeles, California.<ref name="Thaddeus2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Sortname	1943	Supervising medical officer, St. Elizabeths Hospital.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Sortname	1959	Surgeon General of the United States, President Spelman College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1893	Medical director of the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital in Yazoo City, Mississippi (1928–1950)<ref name="Racial-Divide">Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Sortname		Personal physician of Michael Jackson, convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname		Dentist and civil rights leader in Shreveport, Louisiana.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname		First African American physician in St. Petersburg, Florida.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1949	First African-American woman epidemiologist.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Sortname	1899	Founder and head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology at Meharry Medical College.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:Sortname	1968	Chair of Meharry Medical college's board; director of public companies; former president of the National Medical Association.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
William B. Sawyer		Founder of Miami's first hospital for African Americans
Template:Sortname		Dentist and civil rights leader in Shreveport; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname		Former mayor of Compton, California.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1934	Former professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, Meharry.<ref name="JNMABIO2003">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Template:Sortname	1893	First African American woman licensed to practice medicine in Tennessee.Template:Sfn
Josie English Wells	1904	First woman to join Meharry's faculty and to open a private practice in Nashville.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Sortname	1905	Founder of Walden Hospital and school of nursing, both serving African Americans, in Chattanooga.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Sortname	1943	Founder of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Joyce Yerwood	1933	Physician and social justice advocate. First female African American physician in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Founded the Yerwood Center, an African American community center in Stamford, Connecticut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite journal
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• Template:Cite book

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Summerville, James. Educating Black Doctors; A History of Meharry Medical College. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1983.

External links

• Official website