What Two New HBCU Medical Schools Can Mean for Poor and Underserved Populations

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Health Workforce Diversity
• Public Health

Background:

• The U.S. faces a significant shortage of Black physicians, with an estimated need for 21,000 additional Black physicians by 2034 to achieve workforce parity.
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have played a crucial role in training Black medical professionals.
• The closure of some HBCU medical schools, influenced by historical reports like the 1910 Flexner Report, has impacted the pipeline of Black physicians.

Purpose of the Study:

• To project the potential number of Black medical school graduates from two newly established medical schools at HBCUs: Xavier University and Morgan State University.
• To estimate the contribution of these new HBCU medical schools towards addressing the national shortage of Black physicians.
• To contextualize the expected output of these institutions within the historical framework of HBCU medical education.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing prior research on projecting Black medical school graduates from formerly existing HBCU medical schools.
• Applying these methodologies to estimate future graduate numbers from Xavier University and Morgan State University.
• Calculating the annual and cumulative number of graduates needed to compensate for historical losses and meet future workforce demands.

Main Results:

• Xavier University and Morgan State University are projected to graduate a combined total of 3,165 Black physicians by the year 2034.
• To offset the impact of one closed HBCU medical school (as per the Flexner Report's historical influence), these institutions would need to graduate approximately 482 medical students annually for over two decades.
• The projected graduates represent a significant potential increase in the number of Black physicians entering the workforce.

Conclusions:

• The establishment of new medical schools at Xavier University and Morgan State University holds substantial promise for increasing the representation of Black physicians in the U.S. healthcare system.
• These institutions are poised to make a critical contribution to diversifying the physician workforce and improving health equity.
• Continued support and analysis of these HBCU medical programs are essential to realizing their full potential in addressing physician shortages in underserved communities.