Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, a historically Black college focused on health sciences based in Willowbrook, has been awarded $75 million from the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative. Some of the uses of the fund are still being decided.

“It’s fairly unspecified. Our direction right now is to strengthen our endowments. That’s one thing we will do with the funds,” said David M. Carlisle, president of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

“The other directions for the money are yet to be determined but this will strengthen the institutions that house Black medical schools.”

Charles R. Drew University is one of four historically Black medical schools to receive funding from the Greenwood Initiative.

Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College and Morehouse School of Medicine were each awarded $175 million. The sums each school received were determined by class sizes and anticipated growth. The donations will more than double the endowments of three of the four schools.

The initiative will also give $5 million in seed funding to help create a Black medical school in New Orleans known as the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine.

Garnesha Ezediaro, who leads the Greenwood Initiative, said the gifts were “inspired by a gift that we made first in 2020 with an investment and partnership with the four historically Black medical schools” of $100 million in total. That included giving $7.7 million to CDU, the largest single donation received by the school at the time. The funds were used to provide scholarships of up to $100,000.

“We were at the height of the pandemic and had gotten interested in how we could disrupt the disparities we were seeing” in regard to inequities in the health system, Ezediaro said, adding that Black people were disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

“The ongoing partnership that we had with the medical schools, we are coming back now four years later learning from that program and see this new opportunity to invest in the current and future financial state of each institution,” she added.

Black patients are often underserved when it comes to health care. They are 34% more likely to receive preventative care when seen by Black doctors. Still, only 7% of medical school graduates are Black, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“We found it was a unique opportunity,” Ezediaro said.

“Charles Drew has a really dynamic history in terms of why the school got started and the legacy of Charles Drew himself. We know that Charles Drew has partnerships with local community organizations which is really inspiring,” Ezediaro said of why the university was one selected to receive funding.

“The Greenwood Initiative is a portfolio creating intergenerational wealth across Black communities…this is an investment in the institutional wealth of these four institutions and we hope that strengthening their financial stability and institutions will lead them to be able to offer students top tier education,” she added.

CDU eyes growth

Charles Drew University, which was founded in 1966 after the Watts uprising, has been in growth mode.

“We’re on a significant upward growth trajectory. We are planning to expand our enrollment significantly,” Carlisle said.

Last year the school began its first four-year medical school program. It is the first such program at a historically Black institution west of the Mississippi.

Its second class has 240 students.

In March, the school received $7.5 million from Sacramento-based Sutter Health to fund a scholarship program to train physicians. The investment will largely fund scholarships.

Charles Drew University has also been expanding its nursing program. Its Mervyn M. Dymally College of Nursing was founded in 2010 and has grown to roughly 400 nursing students across five programs.

Charles Drew University will also be launching a Master of Science, Genetic Counseling Program. It is currently in the accreditation process. Carlisle said the program could open as early as next year.

He said some diseases, like sickle cell anemia, “disproportionately affect those of African American descent,” which a program like this can help address.

New building planned

One of the biggest changes on tap for the school is a Health Professions Education Building currently under construction. It will house the university’s four-year medical degree program.

It is expected to cost roughly $80 million and be completed in 2026. The groundbreaking is later this month.

The new facility will be roughly 60,000 square feet and have virtual and standard laboratories.

Carlisle said it will house a “state-of-the-art simulation center.”

“Much of the medical sector is moving to the simulation realm,” he said, adding that augmented and virtual reality technology is being utilized by many to teach medical students.

The new building is roughly 90% funded.

While Carlisle could not say if any of the Bloomberg funds would be used on the building, he said that the last Bloomberg funding “allowed us to leverage additional funds, it allowed us to start our CDU Rising campaign,” which the building is part of.

The campaign also raised money for scholarships and operating support.

Carlisle said the university’s growth was exciting to be part of.

“We take people from underserved, under-resourced populations and turn them into health professionals…we have been delivering on this promise and it’s exciting to see CDU grow,” Carlisle said.