Morgan State University Set to Become the First HBCU to Open a Medical School in 45 Years

By Shanique Yates

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY (MSU) is about to make history.

According to CBS News, the Maryland-based educational institution will become the first HBCU to open a new medical school in 45 years.

A Win For Maryland HBCUs

The year 2021 was a huge one for HBCUs in Maryland.

In fact, Coppin State University, Bowie State University, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Morgan State University won a $577 million lawsuit against the state due to inadequate funding, per reports from The Washington Post.

The motion has been 15 years in the making.

The Partnership

Now, in partnership with Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital, MSU will launch a for-profit, private medical school.

They are aiming to open their doors in 2024.

“Let’s do this for Baltimore, let’s do this for our community,” said the Founding Dean of the proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU, Dr. John Sealey, according to CBS.

Addressing The Needs Of Others

Once established, the medical school will be home to 700 students and 150 employees. Through the establishment, the school hopes to give underserved minority students an opportunity to see all that the city of

Baltimore has to offer, while addressing the need for more physicians across the nation.

“There’s a shortage in the next 10 years, anywhere between 35,000 to 120,000 physicians in the United States of America,” Ascension St. Agnes Chief Medical O fficer, Jon D’Souza said, according to CBS. “We want to make sure we’re doing our part in training the next generation and we also want to make sure that the physicians we’re training are coming from the community they’re going to serve.” https://afrotech.com/morgan-state-to-open-firstnew-medical-school-at-an-hbcu-in-45-years

According to D’Souza, students will receive training that cannot be found everywhere.

“It’s going to have a strong emphasis on population health,” he also said, CBS reports. “That means we don’t just fix a problem when it becomes a medical issue, we work within communities to prevent problems.

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador

Gugu Mbatha-Raw calls for Urgent Support for Millions of Displaced Congolese

◄ UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Gugu MbathaRaw sits with Vicky and her family at a settlement site in Kalehe, South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. © UNHCR/Caroline Irby

ACTOR AND GOODWILL AMBASSADOR for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Gugu MbathaRaw, is calling for urgent support for millions of displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), following a visit to the region last week.

During her visit, Mbatha-Raw met with displaced individuals and families experiencing lifethreatening hardship, caused by the toxic mix of ongoing conflict, increased living costs, dwindling support from the international community, and the effects of climate change.

When visiting South Kivu, DRC, Mbatha-Raw met Vicky who explained that she is confronted daily with unbearable decisions, such as whether to prioritise food or medicine, whilst also being unable to send all of her children to school. Vicky’s story is just one amongst millions in what is currently Africa’s largest displacement crisis.

“I’m extremely concerned,” said Mbatha-Raw. “Away from the headlines, millions of displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are struggling to survive. First, they were forced to flee unimaginable violence, and now, due to severe underfunding and shrinking life-saving assistance, they are forced to make impossible choices that no one should have to make. As the situation worsens women and girls are also at greater risk of violence. We cannot allow this to continue.”

As Mbatha-Raw departed from the DRC, UNHCR was repositioning resources in North Kivu to aid thousands displaced by fresh clashes between armed groups and Congolese forces, including from a site that until this week had hosted more than 23,000 people already forced to flee violence.

Mbatha-Raw visited programmes by UNHCR and partners, which focus on providing shelter and essential items such as mats, blankets, jerry cans, and sanitary products for women. She also met internally displaced women and girls who were survivors of sexual violence to learn how medical and psycho-social support and livelihoods training were enabling them to rebuild their lives. Whilst witnessing the positive impact that can be made where limited funding is available, she also saw the desperate scale of the needs which cannot be met with current funding levels.

UNHCR recently launched a report showing that the funding for these lifesaving programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and many other countries is not matching the growing needs. To date, only 42% of UNHCR’s requirements of US$225 million for the DRC this year is funded. If UNHCR does not receive additional funding before the end of the year (2022), it will be forced to make further cuts in lifesaving assistance, putting more lives in jeopardy.

In her role as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Mbatha-Raw is calling on governments, the private sector and individuals to provide urgent funding to UNHCR to meet the most pressing needs of those displaced. Without such support, the situation will continue to deteriorate, and UNHCR fears that further cuts in assistance will be catastrophic.

She added: “In the Democratic Republic of Congo, as in many forgotten emergencies around the world, displaced families don’t have enough shelter, food or clean water to survive. In the same way that the world has shown solidarity and compassion to those displaced by other crises, including the war in Ukraine, we must now unite to support those in the DRC and other underfunded emergencies.” https://www.unhcr.org/news/ announc/2022/11/63610ce54/unhcr-goodwillambassador-gugu-mbatha-raw-calls-urgent-supportmillions.html

Source (Quartz Video): https://qz.com/unambassador-gugu-mbatha-raw-on-working-withrefugees-1849979682

Image credit: qz.com, https://reporting.unhcr.org/ underfunded-report-2022