The Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM) is an academic division of

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

that grants the

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

(M.D.), Ph.D.,

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

, and the M.PH. HUCM is located at the Howard University Health Sciences Center in Washington, D.C., and it was founded in 1868 in response to the growing population of the city. With more than 4,000 living alumni, the college has produced a sizeable share of the African-American physicians practicing in the United States. The mission of the college includes improving health care through training programs and initiatives, discovering knowledge through research, and supporting the education and training of postgraduate physicians, other healthcare providers, and graduate students in biomedical sciences. Many of the college students gain professional experience at

Howard University Hospital Howard University Hospital, previously known as Freedmen's Hospital, is a major hospital located in Washington, D.C., built on the site of the previous Griffith Stadium. The hospital has served the African-American community in the area for over ...

, the primary teaching hospital for the school.

History

Founders of Howard University appreciated the urgent need for medical education in the District of Columbia after the Civil War. The name of Howard University is in honor of Major General

Oliver Otis Howard Oliver Otis Howard (November 8, 1830 – October 26, 1909) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the Civil War. As a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac, Howard lost his right arm while leading his men agains ...

. The

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

had just ended, and freed

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

people were migrating to the nation's capital in large numbers. The opening exercise for the newly created medical department was held at the First Congregational Church of Christ on November 5, 1868. The charter approving incorporation of Howard University specified that a department would be devoted to medicine. Dr. Silas Loomis, one of the university founders, was named the first dean of the medical department in 1868. Among the first five faculty members was

Alexander Thomas Augusta Alexander Thomas Augusta (March 8, 1825December 21, 1890) was a surgeon, veteran of the American Civil War, and the first black professor of medicine in the United States. After gaining his medical education in Toronto, Canada West from 1850 to 18 ...

, reportedly the first African American to serve on a medical school faculty in the United States. The first classes began on November 9, 1868. There were eight students in attendance and the classes were being taught by five faculty members. The faculty members were Drs. Silas Loomis, Robert Reyburn, Joseph Taber Johnson, Lafayette Loomis, and

). In 1869, a building for the medical department and Freedmen's Hospital was constructed by the Freedmen's Bureau on Pomeroy Street, presently Fifth Street NW. The building housed the medical and pharmacy program (and later the dental program), as well as, the Freedmen's Hospital. In 1927, a new facility was constructed on W Street. The first alumni association for the college was formed in 1871 by the five graduates of that year. The members of the new association were, William Bennit, James Bowen, George Brooks, Danforth Nichols, and

Joseph A. Sladen Joseph A. Sladen was an officer in the United States Army. A Union Army veteran of the American Civil War, he received the Medal of Honor for heroism at the 1864 Battle of Resaca. He continued to serve after the Civil War, and took part in severa ...

. In 1945, the Howard University Medical Alumni Association (HUMAAA) was incorporated in the District of Columbia. In September 2020,

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...

donated $32.8 million to help lower student debt at the institution.

Graduate programs

Howard University College of Medicine has six training programs leading to the

or Ph.D. degrees. These are

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having i ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar work ...

and

human genetics Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population gene ...

microbiology Microbiology () is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or acellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, ...

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

, and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...

and

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

. The largest training program in the college is their four-year M.D. program. HUCM is known for producing physicians who provide healthcare to under-served communities throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. A major emphasis of HUCM is preparing physicians for under-served communities. Much of the experience these medical students gain with under-served communities is at Howard University Hospital, the primary teaching hospital for HUCM, but students also gain experience with other demographics by working at other hospitals in the D.C. metropolitan area including,

Washington Hospital Center MedStar Washington Hospital Center is the largest private hospital in Washington, D.C. A member of MedStar Health, the not-for-profit Hospital Center is licensed for 926 beds. Health services in primary, secondary and tertiary care are offered ...

St. Elizabeth's Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast, Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Behavioral Health. It opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally oper ...

, and

Inova Fairfax Hospital Inova Fairfax Medical Campus is the largest hospital campus in Northern Virginia and the flagship hospital of Inova Health System. Located in Woodburn in Fairfax County, Virginia, Inova Fairfax Hospital is one of the largest employers in the coun ...

. The community surrounding Howard University Hospital under-served and is promoted as an excellent teaching environment for the HUCM students. The Howard University Health Sciences Simulation Center opened a major state-of-the-art virtual medical training facility to advance the education of medical students and healthcare professionals. The simulation center, a 6,000-square-foot facility, is a simulated hospital environment that promotes improved communication skills between healthcare workers and their patients. The college is served by the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library, named in honor of

Louis Stokes Louis Stokes (February 23, 1925 – August 18, 2015) was an American attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician. He served 15 terms in the United States House of Representatives – representing the east side of Cleveland – and was the firs ...

, the first African American congressman elected from the state of Ohio. A long association has existed between

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

and the college. The Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS) promotes clinical research and translational science. This

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...

(NIH)-funded multi-institutional consortium provides improved research infrastructure, inter-institutional collaboration, research on problems of on underserved populations, and educational programs. Senior investigators such as Dr. Thomas O. Obisesan guide teams of students, trainees, and junior faculty in research on high-impact diseases such as

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. Dr. Thomas Mellman, co-director of the center, pursues innovative research on

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats o ...

(PTSD).

Service

In conjunction with the New York chapter of the National Organization for the Advancement of Haitians (NOAH) and the Haitian American Alliance, the college has engaged in an ambitious service-learning-based medical project in Haiti. The team from the college consists of physicians from the departments of obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, pediatrics, pathology, and anatomy. The team travelled to Haiti as a humanitarian response to the devastating earthquake in 2010.

Deans of the college

Former deans of the college are: * Silas L. Loomis - 1868–1870 * Robert Rayburn - 1870–1871, 1900–1908 * Gideon S. Palmer - 1871–1881 * Thomas B. Hood - 1881–1900 * Edward A. Balloch - 1908–1928 *

Numa Pompilius Garfield Adams Numa P. G. Adams (February 17, 1885 – August 29, 1940) was a dean at Howard University College of Medicine from 1929 until his death, in 1940. He was the first African Americans, African American to hold the position of dean of the College of Med ...

- 1929–1940 * John W. Lawlah - 1941–1946 * Joseph L. Johnson - 1946–1955 * Robert S. Jason - 1955–1965 * K. Albert Harden - 1965–1970 * Marion Mann - 1970–1979 * Russell L. Miller - 1979–1988 * Charles H. Epps Jr. - 1988–1995 * Floyd J. Malveaux - 1995–2005 * Robert E. Taylor - 2005–2011 * Mark S. Johnson - 2011–2014 * Hugh E. Mighty - 2014–present

Notable faculty members

, reportedly the first African American to serve on a medical school faculty in the United States * Ruth Ella Moore, professor and chair of the microbiology department, researcher, reportedly the first African American woman awarded a Ph.D. in the natural sciences in the United States

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard University College Of Medicine Medical schools in Washington, D.C. Howard University Educational institutions established in 1868 1868 establishments in Washington, D.C.