Morehouse School Of Medicine (founded in 1975) on July 18, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
The donations are among the largest private donations to a college or university that serves black students. In addition to the donation to Atlanta University, $175 million will go to Howard University College of Medicine and Meharry Medical College. Charles Drew University of Medicine & Science will receive $75 million. Xavier University of Louisiana, which is opening a new medical school, will also receive a $5 million grant.
The donations will more than double the size of the three medical schools’ endowments, Bloomberg Philanthropies said. Donations to foundations are invested, with annual returns fed into an organization’s budget. Foundations can ease financial pressure and, depending on restrictions, give nonprofits more funds for discretionary spending.
The pledge follows a $1 billion commitment from Bloomberg in July to Johns Hopkins University, which will waive tuition for most medical students there. The four historically black medical schools are still deciding with Bloomberg Philanthropies how to use recent donations to their foundations, said Garnesha Ezediaro, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative.
In 2020, Bloomberg awarded a total of $100 million to the same medical schools, most of which went toward reducing the debt burden of enrolled students who, according to the schools, were at serious risk of not being able to continue their studies due to financial pressures exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“When we talked about securing and supporting the next generation of black physicians, we meant it literally,” Ezediaro said.
Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of the Morehouse School of Medicine, said the donation relieved enrolled medical students of an average of $100,000 in debt. She said the donation helped her school significantly increase its fundraising revenue.
“But our endowment and the size of our endowment continues to be a challenge, and we’ve been very clear about that. And he’s listened to us,” she said of Bloomberg and the recent donation.
Dr. William Ross, an Atlanta orthopedic surgeon and graduate of Meharry Medical College, has been attending National Medical Association conferences since he was a child with his father, who was also a physician. He said he can attest to the high quality of education at the schools despite minimal resources and facilities.
“If we as individuals are to overcome health care inequalities, it requires cooperation between those who have financial resources and those who need them, and a willingness to share those resources,” he said in New York.
Black doctors hope historic HBCU donation can address shortage
Montgomery Rice was present at the National Medical Association conference in New York on Tuesday morning, where billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg announced the massive donation.
“For three of us, this essentially doubles our endowment,” Montgomery Rice told FOX 5.
“For us, the $175 million donation is really significant. It gives us the opportunity to spend more money on student scholarships. We want to use some of the money for innovative programs,” she said.
The donation comes just four years after Bloomberg gave Morehouse $25 million to pay off its student loan debt.
“Today, medical school graduates carry an enormous burden of debt,” said Dr. Cecil Bennett.
Bennett, the medical director of Newnan Family Medicine Associates, is a graduate of Morehouse School of Medicine and one of only 5.7% of all practicing physicians who are black.
“I have been a board-certified physician for over 20 years, and I would not be here without Morehouse School of Medicine.”
He says research shows that Black people have better health outcomes and receive health care more often when treated by Black doctors. Black patients are also 34% more likely to receive preventive care when treated by Black doctors.
“Additional fellowship funding that would enable physicians to focus on primary care specialties is critical,” he said.
Bennett told FOX 5 he hopes the additional funding for his alma mater will help increase the number of black doctors and bring them closer to the proportion of black Americans who make up 13 percent of the U.S. population.
This previous donation to the Morehouse School of Medicine helped reduce student debt from 43% of students with loans over $250,000 to just 19%.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
