Meharry Medical College

History

Meharry Medical College was one of six medical institutions established between the years of 1876 and 1900 in the state of Tennessee. These schools were founded after the end of the Civil War when slaves had been freed. Because of their former restrictions, there were as yet few African-American physicians, and many freedmen in need of health care. Because of segregation, most hospitals would not admit African Americans, and many white physicians often chose not to serve freedmen. During the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, most medical institutions accepted few, if any, African-American students. To combat this shortage of health care and the lack of accessibility to medical education, individuals, such as Samuel Meharry, and organizations, such as the Medical Association of Colored Physicians, Surgeons, Dentists, and Pharmacists (later renamed the National Medical Association), helped to found medical schools specifically for African Americans.

The college was named for Samuel Meharry, a young Irish American immigrant who worked as a salt and grit trader on the Kentucky-Tennessee frontier. After achieving some success, he and four of his brothers later made a major donation to help establish the college. As a young trader, Meharry had been aided by a family of freedmen, whose names are unknown. Meharry reportedly told the formerly enslaved family, "I have no money, but when I can I shall do something for your race."

Students at Central Tennessee College (CTC) approached the college president about setting up a medical school in 1875. The president, John Braden, approached Samuel Meharry to discuss the proposal. In 1875, Meharry, together with four of his brothers, donated a total of $15,000 to assist with establishing a medical department at CTC, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee. With the contribution of the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, George W. Hubbard and Braden opened the Medical College at CTC in 1876 with a starting class of nine students. The classes took place in the basement of the Clark Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. The first regular year of classes began in October 1876 and had eleven students in that group, with white physician William J. Sneed as their instructor. The medical program was initially two years long, but they added an additional year in 1879 and a fourth year to the course of study in 1893.

Hubbard, who completed his own medical degree at Vanderbilt University in 1879, served as the founding president of the medical college. The first student graduated in 1877. The second class, which had its commencement in 1878, had three graduates. In 1886, the Dental Department was founded, followed by a Pharmacy Department founded in 1889. The Dental and Pharmaceutical Building was dedicated on October 20, 1889. By 1896, half of all "regularly educated physicians then practicing in the South" had graduated from Meharry.

Presidents

George W. Hubbard served as Meharry Medical College's first president from its founding in 1876 until his retirement in 1921.

The second president of the school was John J. Mullowney, who served from 1921 to 1938. He implemented changes in order to improve Meharry's overall academic rating. Admission requirements were tightened and strictly enforced, a superintendent was installed at the hospital, and the number of faculty, research facilities, and hospital facilities were all expanded. As a result, in 1923, Meharry regained its rating as a "grade-A institution" by the American Medical Association (AMA).

Succeeding Meharry Medical College presidents include:

Edward Lewis Turner (1938–1944)

M. Don Clawson (1944–1950)

(From 1950 to 1952 a committee guided the institution instead of a president.)

Harold D. West (1952–1966)

West was the school's first African-American president. He made numerous changes, made possible by his successful $20 million fund drive. He added a new wing to Hubbard Hospital, eliminated the nursing and the dental technology programs to concentrate Meharry Medical College's efforts on its primary strengths in medicine and dentistry, and purchased land adjacent to the campus for expansion.

Lloyd C. Elam (1968–1981)

Richard G. Lester (1981–1982)

David Satcher (1982–1993)

John E. Maupin (1994–2006)

Wayne J. Riley (2006–2013)

Anna Epps (2013–2015)

Research and innovation

Meharry Medical College has historically focused on advancing biomedical knowledge and improving health outcomes, particularly for underserved populations.

In 1893, Meharry’s first female medical graduate, Georgianna Esther Patton, conducted early epidemiological studies in Liberia, identifying anemia and dropsy as prevalent health issues among the indigenous Kru people of Monrovia. In 1910, physician and chair of pathology, Arthur Melvin Townsend identified pellagra as a nutritional deficiency disorder, publishing his research findings in The Journal of the National Medical Association.

Since the early 1970s, Meharry has been active in molecular and genetics research. Geneticists Joseph Galley and Thomas Shockley led pioneering research on keloid scarring, a condition disproportionately affecting people of African descent. In 1972, Meharry established the Sickle Cell Center, one of the first ten such centers in the United States, offering diagnostic and healthcare services across 40 counties in Middle Tennessee for newborns with inherited blood disorders.

In 2015, physician and HIV researcher, James EK Hildreth was appointed president and shifted Meharry’s research focus toward precision and personalized medicine, integrating genomics, proteomics, molecular imaging, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics.

Meharry Medical College research initiatives to address unmet healthcare needs include:

NIH AIM-AHEAD Southeast Hub, advancing artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to transform health outcomes

Center for Genome Research, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute

NSF Innovation-Corps Mid-South Hub, promoting biomedical entrepreneurship

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Partnership to Accelerate Precision Health research at HBCUs

BS/MD Program

Twelve universities are in partnership with Meharry to recruit and prepare their pre-med students for the academics of Meharry. The ten universities are Alabama A&M University, Albany State University, Alcorn State University, Fisk University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Jackson State University, Southern University, Tennessee State University, and Virginia Union University. Beginning Summer 2024, Tuskegee University joined the BS/MD partnership.