Meharry Medical College

Coordinates: 36°10′01″N 86°48′25″W / 36.167°N 86.807°W / 36.167; -86.807
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Meharry Medical College
President
James E. K. Hildreth
Students956 (Fall 2021)
Location, ,
United States

36°10′01″N 86°48′25″W / 36.167°N 86.807°W / 36.167; -86.807
Websitewww.mmc.edu

Meharry Medical College is a

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.[4][5] The school has never been segregated.[6]

Meharry Medical College includes its School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, a School of Allied Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies and Research, the Harold R. 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.[7] It has the highest percentage of African Americans graduating with Ph.Ds in the biomedical sciences in the country.[8]

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.[5] School training emphasizes recognizing health disparities in different populations.[8]

History

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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]

The college was named for Samuel Meharry, a young Irish American immigrant who first worked as a salt trader on the

freedmen, whose names are unknown.[13] Meharry reportedly told the formerly enslaved family, "I have no money, but when I can I shall do something for your race."[14]

Students at

historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee.[14] With the contribution of the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, George W. Hubbard and Braden,[15] they opened the Medical College at CTC in 1876 with a starting class of nine students.[16] The classes took place in the basement of the Clark Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church.[17] The first regular year of classes began in October 1876 and had eleven students in that group.[16] 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.[17]

Hubbard, a physician, served as the founding president of the medical college.[16] The first student graduated in 1877.[5] The second class, which had its commencement in 1878, had three graduates.[18]

In 1886, the Dental Department was founded, followed by a Pharmacy Department founded in 1889.[19][20] The Dental and Pharmaceutical Building was dedicated on October 20, 1889.[21] By 1896, half of all "regularly educated physicians then practicing in the South" had graduated from Meharry.[22]

A nurse-training school was also developed during the 1900–1901 school year and the first class had eight students.[21] A training hospital, Mercy Hospital, was built during the 1901–1902 school year.[21] This hospital was replaced in 1916 and named the George W. Hubbard Hospital.[23] Meharry Auditorium, with a 1,000 person capacity, was built in 1904.[21]

In 1900, CTC changed its name to Walden University.[21] In 1915, the medical department faculty of Walden University received a separate charter to operate independently as Meharry Medical College.[19] The college continued to be privately funded.[12] The Medical College remained in its original buildings, and Walden University moved to another campus in Nashville in 1922.[24]

In 1910, Meharry absorbed medical students from Flint Medical College when that school was closed.[25] Meharry also graduated a large number of women physicians for the time period, with 39 women having graduated by 1920.[26] In 1923, Meharry was recognized as a "grade-A institution" by the American Medical Association (AMA).[12]

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.[5] The department of Psychiatry was established in 1961 by school president, Lloyd Charles Elam, a psychiatrist.[27] During the 1960s, Meharry began to focus on fighting health disparities.[17] In 1968, Meharry created the Matthew Walker Health Center to provide health services to the community.[28] Also in 1968, the school added a Ph.D. degree in basic sciences.[19]

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.[29] In 1970, more than 60 percent of black medical students worked as residents at these two colleges.[30] In 1972, Meharry started receiving federal distress grants which were given to medical schools with deficits in operating costs and problems with accreditation.[31] By 1976, the school campus took up space on 65 acres.[32]

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.[31] 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.[31] By 1986, around 46 percent of all black faculty members in medical schools had graduated from Meharry.[33]

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).[34]

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 November 1997.[35] The year 1994 was also a start for more renovations of campus buildings initiated by campus president, John E. Maupin Jr.[36] The school was also suffering from a $49 million deficit and morale at the school was low.[36] 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.[36] In 1999, the college partnered with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.[36]

In 2005, Meharry was censured by the American Association of University Professors for not observing generally recognized principles of academic freedom and tenure.[37][38]

On November 9, 2017, Meharry, under president

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.[39] Meharry students had previously received clinical training at numerous sites, primarily Nashville General Hospital, which had moved on-campus in the 1990s.[40] Withdrawal of the alliance with Meharry is thought to threaten the provision of inpatient care at Nashville General Hospital.[41] A board member resigned over this surprise decision and announcement.[42]

In April 2019, then-dean and senior vice president of health affairs Dr. Veronica Mallett secured a partnership with Detroit Medical Center to increase the number of Meharry students able to complete their studies at that hospital.[43] Meharry students had been accepted at Sinai-Grace Hospital alongside Michigan State and Wayne State university students since July 2018.[44]

In September 2020, philanthropist Michael Bloomberg donated $34 million to help lower student debt at the institution. Bloomberg's gift is the largest in Meharry's history.[45]

In 2021, Meharry launched Meharry Medical College Ventures to aid in reducing health disparities through forming partnerships with medical facilities across the US. Mallett was the inaugural president and CEO,[46][47] serving until 2023. She has been succeeded by Reginald Holt.[48]

In March 2022, MacKenzie Scott donated $20 million to Meharry. Scott's gift is one of the largest in Meharry's history.[49]

Presidents

George W. Hubbard served as Meharry Medical College's first president from its founding in 1876 until his retirement in 1921.[50]

The second president of the school was John J. Mullowney, who served from 1921 to 1938.[51] 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 received an ‘A’ rating.[19]

Succeeding Meharry Medical College presidents have been:

  • Edward Lewis Turner (1938–1944),[51]
  • M. Don Clawson (1944–1950),[51]
  • Harold D. West (1952–1966),[51]
  • Lloyd C. Elam (1968–1981),[19]
  • Richard G. Lester (1981-1982),[19]
  • David Satcher (1982–1993),[5]
  • John E. Maupin (1994–2006),[19]
  • Wayne J. Riley (2006–2013),
  • A. Cherrie 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.[19] 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, and purchased land adjacent to the campus for expansion.[19]

Research

Meharry Medical College spent $96 million on research during fiscal years between 2013 and 2017.[8] The school has a Graduate Studies and Research department.[5]

Research centers include:

  • Asthma Disparities Center
  • Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neurosciences
  • Center for Women's Health Research
  • Clinical Research Center
  • Export Center for Health Disparities
  • Meharry Center for Health Disparities Research in HIV
  • Sickle Cell Center

BS/MD Program

Ten 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.[52]

Notable alumni

Dr. Audrey Manley, Deputy Surgeon General of the United States, 1995–1997.
Dr. Corey Hébert
Dr. Lloyd Tevis Miller
Name Class year Notability
Lucinda Bragg Adams 1907 Prior to her medical degree, a noted composer, writer, and editor.[53]
Daniel Sharpe Malekebu 1917 First Malawian to receive a medical degree; Christian missionary and anti-colonial activist
Hastings Kamuzu Banda
1937 President of the Republic of Malawi.[54]
Carl C. Bell 1971 Professor of psychiatry.[55]
Emmett Ethridge Butler 1934 Physician and community leader in Gainesville, Georgia, and President, Georgia State Medical Association
Clive O. Callender Transplant surgeon, chairman of Department, Howard University College of Medicine and founder Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP).[56]
Donna P. Davis 1975 First African-American woman doctor to enter the United States Navy.[57]
Tameka A. Clemons 2003 Biochemist and professor at Meharry.[58]
Lillian Singleton Dove 1917 Early Chicago physician and surgeon.[59]
Jacob J. Durham 1882 Founder of Morris College.[60]
Winston C. Hackett First African American physician in Arizona.[61]
John Henry Hale 1905 Prominent surgeon who is credited for 30,000 operations, was a member of Meharry faculty for 29 years.[62]
Robert Hayling 1960 Leader of the civil rights movement in St. Augustine, Florida that led to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964
Corey Hébert 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.[63]
Robert Walter Johnson Tennis Instructor for
Educator.[64]
John S. Jackson First African American surgeon, city commissioner, and mayor of Lakeland, Florida.
Robert Lee 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.[65]
John Angelo Lester 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.
Monroe Alpheus Majors 1886 Physician and writer and civil rights activist in Texas and Los Angeles, California.[66]
Eleanor L. Makel 1943 Supervising medical officer, St. Elizabeths Hospital.[67]
Audrey F. Manley 1959 Surgeon General of the United States, President Spelman College.[68]
Lloyd Tevis Miller 1893 Medical director of the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital in Yazoo City, Mississippi (1928-1950)[69]
Conrad Murray Personal physician of Michael Jackson, convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.[70]
Louis Pendleton Dentist and civil rights leader in Shreveport, Louisiana.[71]
James Maxie Ponder First African American physician in St. Petersburg, Florida.[72]
Theresa Greene Reed 1949 First African-American woman epidemiologist.[73]
Charles Victor Roman 1899 Founder and head of the Department of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology at Meharry Medical College.[74]
Frank S. Royal 1968 Chair of Meharry Medical college's board; director of public companies; former president of the National Medical Association.[75]
William B. Sawyer Founder of Miami's first hospital for African Americans
C. O. Simpkins Sr.
Dentist and civil rights leader in Shreveport; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1996.[76]
Walter R. Tucker Jr. Former mayor of Compton, California.[77]
Matthew Walker Sr. 1934 Former professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, Meharry.[78]
Georgia E. L. Patton Washington 1893 First African American woman licensed to practice medicine in Tennessee.[79]
Emma Rochelle Wheeler 1905 Founder of Walden Hospital and school of nursing, both serving African Americans, in Chattanooga.[80]
Charles H. Wright 1943 Founder of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.[81]
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.[82]

References

  1. ^ "Meharry Medical College". International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities (IAMSCU). Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  2. ^ "About Meharry". Meharry Medical College. Archived from the original on 2012-10-27. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
  3. ^ As of June 30, 2020. U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  4. ^ "Marian Wright Edelman to speak at Meharry Medical College commencement", Nashville Business Journal, May 6, 2008
  5. ^ a b c d e f g O'Connor, Allison (2010-01-11). "Meharry Medical College (1876- ) •". Black Past. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  6. ^ "Meharry Medical College". Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Columbia University Press. 2020 – via EBSCOhost.
  7. ^ Black and African American Physicians in the Workforce, February 21, 2017, Association of American Medical Colleges, Retrieved August, 2019
  8. ^ a b c "The Economic Impact of Meharry Medical College". Tennessee Tribune. 28 (50): 1A, 10A. 14 December 2017 – via EBSCOhost.
  9. ^ Watson 1999, p. 38.
  10. ^ Watson 1999, p. 26.
  11. PMID 11991340
    .
  12. ^ a b c Watson 1999, p. 24.
  13. ^ a b c Brawley 1974, p. 383.
  14. ^ a b "The Salt Wagon Story" Archived 2021-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Meharry Medical College website (accessed September 12, 2007)
  15. ^ "History of the Tennessee Conference (UMC)" Archived 2021-01-20 at the Wayback Machine, Tennessee Conference, United Methodist Church website
  16. ^ a b c Brawley 1974, p. 384.
  17. ^ a b c Poinsett 1976, p. 34.
  18. ^ "Commencement Exercises at Central Tennessee College". The Tennessean. 1878-02-22. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-07-16 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr., "Meharry Medical College", Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
  20. ^ Thomas Jr, James G., and Charles Reagan Wilson, eds. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 22: Science and Medicine. UNC Press Books, 2012.
  21. ^ a b c d e Brawley 1974, p. 387.
  22. ^ Brawley 1974, p. 385.
  23. ^ Brawley 1974, p. 387-388.
  24. ^ Brawley 1974, p. 392.
  25. ^ Brawley 1974, p. 288.
  26. .
  27. ^ Brawley 1974, p. 394.
  28. ^ Poinsett 1976, p. 36.
  29. ^ Watson 1999, p. 22.
  30. ^ Watson 1999, p. 160.
  31. ^ a b c Martin 1986, p. 44.
  32. ^ Poinsett 1976, p. 40.
  33. ^ Martin 1986, p. 50.
  34. ^ "Quick Facts". Meharry Medical College.
  35. ^ Watson 1999, p. 178.
  36. ^ a b c d Hefner, David (July 2001). "Breathing New Life into Meharry". Black Issues in Higher Education. 18 (11): 28 – via EBSCOhost.
  37. ^ "Academic Freedom and Tenure: Meharry Medical College | AAUP". Academe. American Association of University Professors. November 2004. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  38. ^ Spragens, John (July 21, 2005). "Labor Pains at Meharry". Nashville Scene. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  39. ^ Kacik, Alex (November 9, 2017). "HCA partners with Meharry Medical College to train students". Modern Healthcare. Crain Communications, Inc. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  40. ^ "Nashville General Hospital". Meharry Medical College. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  41. ^ Stinnett, Joel (November 9, 2017). "HCA strikes student-training deal with Meharry". Nashville Business Journal. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  42. ^ Fletcher, Holly (November 17, 2017). "Nashville General board member resigns, mayor apologizes for surprise hospital announcement". The Tennessean. USA Today Network. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
  43. ^ "Meharry Medical College Expands Partnership With Detroit Medical Center". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  44. ^ Rahal, Sarah (2019-04-01). "Deal increases number of Meharry medical students at DMC". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  45. ^ "Bloomberg awards $34 million to Meharry Medical College to pay off student loan debt".
  46. ^ "Meharry launches venture, taps Mallett as CEO". Nashville Post. 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  47. ^ "Meharry Medical College Ventures Names Dr. Veronica Mallett President and CEO". Nashville Medical News. 2021-05-10. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  48. ^ Capps, Milt (2023-06-28). "Meharry Medical College's MMC Ventures names Reginald Holt its CEO". Venture Nashville. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  49. ^ "MacKenzie Scott donates $20 million to Nashville's Meharry Medical College". 16 March 2022.
  50. ^ Brawley 1974, p. 390.
  51. ^ a b c d Brawley 1974, p. 393.
  52. ^ "CENTER OF EXCELLENCE". Meharry Medical College. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  53. JSTOR 3108447
    .
  54. ^ "Hastings Kamuzu Banda | president of Malawi". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  55. ^ "Carl C. Bell, M.D. '71 Named 2018 President's Circle of Scholars Award Winner". Meharry Medical College. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  56. ^ "National Minority Donor Awareness Week Honors Howard University Professor Clive O. Callender". Washington Afro-American. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  57. ^ "Navy Gets Its First Black Woman in Medical Corps". Jet. 48 (10): 24. May 29, 1975.
  58. ^ "Curriculum Vitae for Academic Promotion Oksoon H. Choi" (PDF). hopkinsmedicine.org. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  59. – via Internet Archive.
  60. ^ Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p878-883
  61. ^ Jones, Jae (2020-07-03). "Dr. Winston Clifton Hackett: First African American Physician in Arizona". Black Then. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  62. OCLC 15607449
  63. ^ "Dr. Corey Hébert". drcoreyhebert.com. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  64. ^ Boyd, Herb (6 July 2017). "Dr. Robert Walter Johnson, the 'godfather' of Black tennis". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  65. ^ Dogbevi, Emmanuel (2010-07-13). "Dr Robert Lee passes on". Ghana Business News. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  66. ^ Russel, Thaddeus, "Majors, Monroe Alpheus", in Appiah, Anthony, and Henry Louis Gates Jr (eds), Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 694–696.
  67. ^ "71 Will Graduate at Meharry Today". The Tennessean. June 6, 1943. p. 48. Retrieved June 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  68. ^ "Audrey Manley". Spelman College. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  69. . p. 25: In 1928 he cofounded the Afro-American Sons and Daughters Hospital with local black insurance businessman T.J. Huddleston, who sold individual bricks to raise money for construction.
  70. ^ "INSIDE STORY: The Two Sides of Dr. Conrad Murray". People.com. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  71. ^ "Dr. Louis Christopher Pendleton". The Times. 18 January 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  72. ^ Arsenault, Kathy (January 17, 2001). "The Ernest Ayer Ponder Collection" (PDF). University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital Archive. University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  73. OCLC 41238505
    – via Internet Archive.
  74. .
  75. ^ "Meharry board chair to retire after 30 years". Nashville Post. January 10, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  76. ^ "Biography". C.O. Simpkins, Sr. - Civil Rights Pioneer. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  77. ^ Simmonds, Yussuf J. (2010-06-17). "Fathers and Sons Together II". Los Angeles Sentinel. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  78. PMID 12656454
    .
  79. ^ Watson 1999, p. 54.
  80. ^ Elizabeth H. Oakes, "Wheeler, Emma Rochelle (1882-1957), American Physician," in Oakes, Encyclopedia of World Scientists, rev. ed. (New York: Infobase Publications, 2007), 763-764.
  81. ^ "Dr. Charles H. Wright | Biographies". Elmwood Historic Cemetery. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  82. ^ "Joyce Yerwood". CT Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2020-07-29.

Sources

Further reading

  • Johnson, Charles (2000). The Spirit of a Place Called Meharry. Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press.
  • Smith, John Abernathy. Cross and Flame: Two Centuries of United Methodism in Middle Tennessee. Commission on Archives and History of the Tennessee Conference, United Methodist Church, Parthenon Press, Nashville, Tennessee (1984).
  • Summerville, James. Educating Black Doctors; A History of Meharry Medical College. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1983.

External links