Morgan State to Launch First Public HBCU Medical School

Morgan State University is renewing its effort to establish a medical school, aiming to create new pathways for aspiring doctors, particularly those from underrepresented communities, who often face barriers to entering the medical field.

University President David Wilson said the institution will spend the next two years developing the Morgan State University School of Medicine. The nonprofit program, he explained, is designed to be more affordable for students while addressing the nationwide shortage of physicians, especially in underserved areas.

If successful, Morgan would become the first historically Black college or university (HBCU) to operate a public medical school. Currently, only four HBCUs have medical schools, all of which are private.

“This will be the first public medical school at an HBCU in the country,” Wilson said. “Our goal is to ensure cost is not the greatest barrier to medical school attendance.”

Morgan has long considered opening a medical school. Five years ago, the university partnered with Salud Education LLC to pursue a for-profit osteopathic program. That plan stalled amid the pandemic and investor concerns, and the partnership has since ended.

The new nonprofit model gives Morgan full control over staffing, curriculum, and operations. It also comes with major challenges: the university must independently secure funding to construct and sustain the school. Officials expect the campus, likely located at the former Lake Clifton High School site acquired in 2022, to eventually enroll up to 120 students annually, though not before 2028 or 2030.

Momentum for the project grew after Morgan received a $1.75 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to design a comprehensive plan. Leaders hope the initiative will increase diversity in medicine at a time when Black and minority enrollment in medical schools has declined.

Wilson emphasized affordability, noting that while the previous plan called for tuition of around $55,000 per year, Morgan now hopes to cut that figure in half. Officials are seeking philanthropic backing, pointing to recent large-scale donations for medical education, such as Bloomberg Philanthropies’ $1 billion gift to Johns Hopkins.

“I’m prepared to spend a lot of time knocking on doors,” Wilson said. “We have an opportunity to show what this investment can mean for Baltimore, Maryland, and communities across the country.”

Morgan State Revives Plans To Launch Nation’s First Public HBCU Medical School  was originally published on wolbbaltimore.com