On Tuesday, August 6th, Michael Bloomberg’s organization, Bloomberg Philanthropies, announced a monumental $600 million gift to the endowments of four historically Black medical schools. This donation, among the largest ever to such institutions, aims to enhance the representation of Black doctors and address long-standing health disparities in the United States.
The donation, revealed at the National Medical Association’s annual convention in New York, allocates $175 million each to Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science will receive $75 million, while Xavier University of Louisiana, which is opening a new medical school, will receive a $5 million grant. Bloomberg emphasized that this gift would help foster a healthier and more equitable future for the nation.
Black Americans face significant health disparities compared to white Americans, with only 6% of U.S. physicians being Black, despite Black Americans constituting 13% of the population. Experts believe that increasing the number of Black doctors is crucial to addressing these inequities. Bloomberg’s donation follows his $1 billion pledge to Johns Hopkins University, which will enable most medical students there to attend tuition-free.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, named after the community destroyed during the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, spearheads this effort. Initially part of Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign, the initiative focuses on reducing the racial wealth gap and has committed $896 million so far. In 2020, Bloomberg also donated $100 million to these same medical schools to alleviate student debt exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine, highlighted the impact of Bloomberg’s previous gift, which relieved $100,000 in debt per student on average. Despite increased fundraising, these schools still face endowment challenges, which Bloomberg’s latest donation aims to address.
The philanthropic momentum follows significant contributions from other donors, such as the Lilly Endowment’s $100 million to the United Negro College Fund and MacKenzie Scott’s substantial gifts to HBCUs in 2020 and 2021. Denise Smith, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, noted the vital role of such donations in sustaining HBCUs, given the financial disparities they face compared to other higher education institutions.
Dr. Yolanda Lawson, president of the National Medical Association, expressed relief and optimism about the donations’ impact on increasing the number of Black physicians, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down affirmative action. Utibe Essien, a physician and researcher at UCLA, stressed the need for continued investment in early educational support to encourage more Black students to pursue medicine.
