In order to support the future financial stability of four historically Black medical schools, Michael Bloomberg's organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, donated $600 million to their endowments. The endowments will go to Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles Drew University of Medicine & Science. Xavier University, which is set to open a new medical school, will receive a small, multimillion-dollar grant.
The announcement was made during Bloomberg’s speech at the annual convention of the National Medical Association, an organization that advocates for African American physicians. During his speech, Bloomberg highlighted the fact that, despite the well-established effect that Black physicians have on enhancing health outcomes for Black patients, all but four historically Black medical schools have closed in the recent century.
“Lack of funding and support, driven probably in no small part by prejudice and racism, have forced many to close their doors,” Bloomberg said of those medical schools. “We cannot allow that to happen again, and this gift will help ensure it doesn’t.”
Despite being 13% of the population, Black Americans made up only 6% of U.S. physicians in 2022. According to Bloomberg Philanthropies, the four historically Black medical institutions produce nearly half of all Black physicians.
Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, and Morehouse School of Medicine will each get $175 million of the gifts, which rank among the greatest private contributions to any historically Black college or university. The remaining $75 million is going to Charles Drew University of Medicine & Science. There will also be a $5 million grant given to Xavier University of Louisiana, which is starting a new medical school.
These generous donations will more than likely double the size of the endowments of three medical schools. The $600 million donation comes just a few weeks after Bloomberg donated $1 billion to Johns Hopkins University, which implies that the majority of medical students there will not be required to pay for tuition.
The schools have yet to decide what the donations will be used for. But back in 2020, Bloomberg donated a total of $100 million to those same medical schools, clearing the debt of students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, the gift relieved enrolled medical students of an average of $100,000 in debt. She said that her school's fundraising had increased dramatically as a result of the donation.
“But our endowment and the size of our endowment has continued to be a challenge, and we’ve been very vocal about that. And he heard us,” she said of Bloomberg and the latest donation.
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