Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first medical school for African Americans in the South. This region had the highest proportion of this ethnicity, but they were excluded from many public and private segregated institutions of higher education, particularly after the end of Reconstruction.
David Satcher, is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.
Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequities, and face worse health outcomes than those who are able to access certain resources. It is not equity to simply provide every individual with the same resources; that would be equality. In order to achieve health equity, resources must be allocated based on an individual need-based principle.
Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is a private medical school in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally a part of Morehouse College, the school became independent in 1981.
Howard Kyongju Koh is the former United States Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), after being nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009.
Dr. David N. Sundwall is a primary care physician and served as the executive director of the Utah Department of Health from January 2005 to January 2011.
The Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine (CAMED), formerly the Boston University School of Medicine, is one of the graduate schools of Boston University. Founded in 1848, the medical school was the first institution in the world to formally educate female physicians. Originally known as the New England Female Medical College, it was subsequently renamed Boston University School of Medicine in 1873, then Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in 2022. In 1864, it became the first medical school in the United States to award an M.D. degree to an African-American woman.
Atlanta, the largest urban center in the southeastern U.S., has undergone profound social, cultural and demographic change since the 1980s. Prior to that time, the region contained two main ethnic groups: European Americans and African Americans. However, from 1980 to 1995, the Hispanic population of Georgia grew 130%. By 1996 there were 462,973 Hispanics in Georgia. From 1990 to 2000, Georgia became the third largest state for migrating Hispanics and Latinos.
Health Disparities Centers are institutions in the United States that cover a broad range of needs and focus areas to decrease currently disproportionate illness and disease rates that lead to health disparities. They also promote the engagement, empowerment and recruitment of underrepresented populations in health professions. Many programs devote significant resources to developing cultural competency training to promote the delivery of culturally sensitive healthcare by faculty and staff, as well as current and future healthcare providers. These services are usually tailored to meeting specific goals or missions of the individual components common in most of the operating Health Disparities Centers.
Medical Education for South African Blacks (MESAB) was a 501(c)(3) organization that operated from 1985 to 2007. MESAB was a collaborative effort by Americans and South Africans to support the training of black South Africans in the health professions in an effort to improve health care for the black African population of South Africa. MESAB provided scholarships for black South African students at 26 South African universities and technikons, along with sundry training initiatives in community health clinics. MESAB was founded in 1985 by retired diplomat Herbert Kaiser and his wife Joy Kaiser and closed its doors in 2007. At the time of MESAB's founding, South Africa's apartheid policies dictated separate health facilities for blacks. These facilities were underfunded, underequipped, and understaffed compared with those provided to whites.
Cultural competence in healthcare refers to the ability for healthcare professionals to demonstrate cultural competence toward patients with diverse values, beliefs, and feelings. This process includes consideration of the individual social, cultural, and psychological needs of patients for effective cross-cultural communication with their health care providers. The goal of cultural competence in health care is to reduce health disparities and to provide optimal care to patients regardless of their race, gender, ethnic background, native languages spoken, and religious or cultural beliefs. Cultural competency training is important in health care fields where human interaction is common, including medicine, nursing, allied health, mental health, social work, pharmacy, oral health, and public health fields.
Consuelo H. Wilkins is an American physician, biomedical researcher, and health equity expert. She is Senior Vice President and Senior Associate Dean for Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is a professor of medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and has a joint appointment at Meharry Medical College. She additionally serves as one of the principal investigators of the Vanderbilt Clinical and Translational Science Award, Director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CTSA) and as vice president for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Valerie Montgomery Rice is an American obstetrician, gynecologist, and college administrator. She is the president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine.
Veronica Mallett is an American physician and the former dean of Meharry Medical College. Currently she serves System SVP and Chief Administrative Officer CommonSpirit Health/Morehouse School of Medicine More in Common Alliance (MICA) and board director Sharecare corporation https://moreincommonalliance.org/news/recognized-leader-in-health-disparities-veronica-mallett-m-d-to-join-more-in-common-alliance. Prior to this role she held the position of President and CEO of Meharry Medical College Ventures, the holding company for Meharry Medical College. https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2022/02/07/the-boss-dr-veronica-mallett.html She is an expert in urogynecology and a pioneer for the medical profession.
Camara Phyllis Jones is an American physician, epidemiologist, and anti-racism activist who specializes in the effects of racism and social inequalities on health. She is known for her work in defining institutional racism, personally mediated racism, and internalized racism in the context of modern U.S. race relations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones drew attention to why racism and not race is a risk factor and called for actions to address structural racism.
Kisha Braithwaite Holden is a scientist known for her research on mental health of African-Americans and members of other minority groups. She is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and community health & preventive medicine and interim director of Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) at Morehouse School of Medicine.
Richard Allen Williams is an American physician who is founder of the Association of Black Cardiologists. He previously served as the President of the National Medical Association.
The Heckler Report, officially the Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health, was a landmark 1985 report published by the US Government. It is named after Margaret Heckler, who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services from 1983 to 1985. The Heckler Report investigated racial and ethnic disparities in health in the United States.
The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Scottish Rite Hospital formerly Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children is a nationally ranked, freestanding, 273-bed, pediatric acute care children's hospital located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is affiliated with the Emory University School of Medicine and the Morehouse School of Medicine, as a member of the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta system, 1 of 3 of the children's hospitals in the system. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout the Atlanta region. The hospital features a state verified level II pediatric trauma center, one of two in the state. Its regional pediatric intensive-care unit and neonatal intensive care units serve the region. The hospital also has a rooftop helipad for critical pediatric transport.
Melody S. Goodman is an American biostatistician whose interests include social determinants of health, health literacy, and stakeholder engagement in health research. Goodman has spoken publicly about racial disparities in access to healthcare, and is an advocate for public outreach and engagement on health issues. She is an associate professor of biostatistics and associate dean for research in the New York University School of Global Public Health.
