Meharry Medical College

Meharry Medical College
Established	1876
Type	Private, HBCU
Religious affiliation	United Methodist Church [1][2]
Endowment	$75.2 million[3]
Students	700
Location	Nashville, Tennessee, Tennessee, United States
Former names	Medical Department of Central Tennessee College
Website	http://www.mmc.edu/

Meharry Medical College, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is a graduate and professional institution affiliated with the United Methodist Church whose mission is to educate healthcare professionals and scientists.^[1][2] Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first medical school in the South for African Americans. It was chartered separately in 1915. It is currently the largest private historically black institution in the United States solely dedicated to educating healthcare professionals and scientists.^[4]

Meharry Medical College includes a medical school, dental school, graduate school, and an allied health school. The degrees that Meharry offers include Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.), Master of Science in Public Health (M.S.P.H.), Master of Science (M.S.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees. Meharry is the second largest educator of African-American medical doctors and dentists in the United States.^{[citation needed]} Also, it is the largest producer of African Americans with Masters in Public Health and Ph.D.s in biomedical science.^{[citation needed]}

Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved is a public health journal owned by and edited at Meharry Medical College.

History

The college was named for a young Scots-Irish immigrant salt trader named Samuel Meharry, who was traveling through the rough terrain of Tennessee when his wagon suddenly slipped off the road and fell into a swamp. Meharry was helped by a family of freedmen, whose names are unknown. This family of freed slaves gave Meharry food and shelter in the night. The next morning they helped him to recover his wagon. Meharry is reported to have told the former slave family, "I have no money, but when I can I shall do something for your race."^[5]

In 1875, Samuel Meharry, together with four of his brothers, donated a total of $15,000 to assist with the establishment of a medical department at Central Tennessee College.^[5] With the contribution of the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, George W. Hubbard and John Braden, an English Methodist cleric, were able to open the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College in 1876. The first class had one graduate. The second class, which had its commencement in 1878, had three graduates. In 1886, the Dental Department was founded, followed by a Pharmacy Department that was founded in 1889.^[6]

Among the second class of graduates was Lorenzo Dow Key, the son of Hillery Wattsworth Key. Key, together with Braden, was one of the founding members of the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North. The church had split into Methodist Episcopal Church North and Methodist Episcopal Church South on the issue of slavery and was not reunited until 1939.

In 1900, Central Tennessee College changed its name to Walden University in honor of John Morgan Walden, a bishop of the Methodist Church who had ministered to freedmen. In 1915, the medical department faculty of Walden University received a separate charter as Meharry Medical College.^[6] It included the departments of pharmacy and dentistry. The Medical College remained in its original buildings, and Walden University moved to another campus in Nashville. Hubbard served as Meharry Medical College's first president until his death in 1921.

After Hubbard's death, Meharry Medical College presidents have included:

• John J. Mullowney (1921–1938),
• Edward Lewis Turner (1938–1944),
• M. Don Clawson (1945–1950),
• Harold D. West (1952–1966),
• Lloyd C. Elam (1968–1981),
• David Satcher (1982–1993),
• John E. Maupin (1994–2006), and
• Wayne J. Riley(2006–present).

Research Centers

• Asthma Disparities Center
• Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neurosciences
• Center for Women's Health Research
• Clinical Research Center
• Export Center for Health Disparities
• Meharry Center for Health Disparities Research in HIV
• Sickle Cell Center

Notable alumni

Dr. Audrey Manley, Deputy Surgeon General of the United States, 1995–1997.

Name	Class year	Notability	References
Dr. E. Anthony Rankin		Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Providence Hospital & Founder of Rankin Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Second Vice President of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
Dr. Willie Adams, Jr.		Mayor of Albany, Georgia
Dr. Billy Ray Ballard, MD, DDS		First African American Board Certified Oral Pathologist, Previous Chair for the AAMC Group on Student Affairs; Former Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Dean of Students and Admissions, UTMB Galveston Medical School
Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda		President of the Republic of Malawi
Dr. Edward S. Cooper		President of the American Heart Association
Dr. Reginald Coopwood		CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Hospital Authority
Dr. Cleveland W. Eneas, Sr.		Senator, Government of The Bahamas. Author of The History of The Class of 1941 of Meharry Medical College
Dr. Sandra Gadson		Former President of the National Medical Association
Dr. Robert Walter Johnson		Tennis Instructor for Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, Physician and Educator
Dr. Audrey F. Manley		Deputy Surgeon General of the United States
Dr. John E. Maupin		President of Morehouse School of Medicine
Maj. General Leonard Randolph, Jr.		Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Plan Administration
Dr. Louis Christopher Pendleton		dentist and civil rights leader in Shreveport, Louisiana
Dr. Charles V. Roman		President of the National Medical Association. Author of A History of Meharry Medical College
Dr. Walter R. Tucker, Jr.		Former Mayor of Compton, California
Dr. Matthew Walker, Sr.		Former Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery, Meharry. Author of "President's Farewell Address" Journal of the National Medical Association 1955
Dr. Reuben Warren		Associate Director for Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Charles H. Wright		Founder of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
Lorenzo Raymond Sylvanus Nelson, M.D.		Regimental Surgeon, Major, Medical Corps, 366th Infantry Regiment, 5th Army, World War II, grandson of Lorenzo Dow Key, M.D., 1878 and great-grandson of Hillery Wattsworth Key, D.D., Trustee, Walden University.
Jeanne Spurlock, M.D.		noted Psychiatrist, Chairman of Department, Meharry Medical College (1968) and Department of Neuropsychiatry, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, Illinois; Fellow, American Association of Psychiatry
Dr. Emily F. Pollard, M.D., FACS		noted plastic surgeon, "TOP Doctor" in Philadelphia Magazine, appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show
Dr. Carl C. Bell, M.D.		Community Psychiatrist, International Researcher, Academician, Author, President/CEO
Dr. Conrad Murray		Personal physician of Michael Jackson, convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the singer's death

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Meharry Medical College". International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges, and Universities (IAMSCU). http://public.gbhem.org/iamscu/search_results.asp?act=search_gen&search_txt=MEHARRY+MEDICAL+COLLEGE&type=schools&submit=GO. Retrieved 2007-06-29. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "About Meharry". Meharry Medical College. http://www.mmc.edu/aboutmeharry/index.html. Retrieved 2007-06-29. 
3. ^ As of June 30, 2009. "U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2009 Endowment Market Value and Percentage Change in Endowment Market Value from FY 2008 to FY 2009" (PDF). 2009 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments. National Association of College and University Business Officers. http://www.nacubo.org/Documents/research/2009_NCSE_Public_Tables_Endowment_Market_Values.pdf. Retrieved March 2, 2010. 
4. ^ Marian Wright Edelman to speak at Meharry Medical College commencement, Nashville Business Journal, May 6, 2008
5. ^ ^{a b} The Salt Wagon Story, Meharry Medical College website (accessed September 12, 2007)
6. ^ ^{a b} Meharry Medical College, Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture

Additional references

• Johnson, Charles (2000). The Spirit of a Place Called Meharry. Franklin, Tennessee: Hillsboro Press. 
• Smith, John Abernathy. Cross and Flame: Two Centuries of United Methodism in Middle Tennessee,. Commission on Archives and History of the Tennessee Conference, United Methodist Church, Parthenon Press, Nashville, Tennessee (1984). .

External links

• www.mmc.edu – Official web site