Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles has received a $7.7 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies to help address the shortage of Black doctors in underserved communities, it was announced Thursday.
The donation will allow the university to provide scholarships of up to $100,000 to nearly 50% of medical students currently enrolled and receiving financial aid over the next four years, according to the school.
CDU received the grant as part of the first investment of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, an effort to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation and address systemic under-investment in Black communities.
“COVID-19 has been especially devastating for the Black community, and the scarcity of Black doctors practicing in Black communities is one reason for it,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP, and three-term mayor of New York City. “More Black doctors will mean more Black lives saved and fewer health problems that limit economic opportunity. But right now, the burden of student debt and lack of financial aid means that the shortage of Black doctors could get even worse.”
The award is part of a $100 million commitment to the nation’s four historically Black medical colleges. The other colleges receiving grants are Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., Meharry Medical College in Nashville and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.
“On behalf of our medical students and the under-resourced communities that more of them will be able to serve, we are exceptionally grateful to Bloomberg Philanthropies and Mike Bloomberg for this investment in community health and health equity,” said Dr. David M. Carlisle, president and CEO of CDU. “It will help to relieve the crushing burden of medical school student debt for low-income students, particularly those who embody the CDU mission and wish to set up a practice in medically under-resourced communities of color.”