Partnership Between Two Nashville Medical Schools Helps Improve Access for Underserved Residents

A three-year-old alliance between the "two very different medical schools" of Nashville, Tenn., has helped both institutions reduce gaps in their programs, increase access to care for the city's underserved residents and "expand educational, research and training opportunities for future physicians," the Chattanooga Times & Free Press reports. Before 1999, the "historically black" Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical College had little interaction. But a partnership between the two schools has allowed students to benefit from each school's strengths: Meharry's emphasis on primary care and treating underserved and minority populations, and Vanderbilt's focus on specialty care and research, Dr. Clifton Meador, executive director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, said. The partnership has also allowed the schools to apply jointly for grants, thus increasing the chances of obtaining them, Meador said. The schools recently were awarded a $22 million grant to study 100,000 black individuals over a four-to-five year period and identity disparities in care. Dr. Deborah German, Vanderbilt's senior associate dean for medical education, said it is important for medical students and residents to work with patients from diverse backgrounds. "It really broadens the understanding of medicine," she said (Park, Chattanooga Times & Free Press, 5/28).