Morehouse School of Medicine Welcomes Record Incoming Class of 105 MD Students

Black Men Represent Nearly Half of the Class of 2024 as Country Struggles to Increase Number of Physicians from Underrepresented Communities

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest across the county, Morehouse School of Medicine today welcomed its largest entering MD class ever as 105 future health leaders – including 51 Black/African American men – started their virtual orientation, the beginning of a journey that will lead them into a brave new world of health care.

“Despite everything taking place in this country and around the world – or perhaps in part because of it – we are delighted to welcome the largest incoming MD class in Morehouse School of Medicine’s 45-year history,” President and Dean Valerie Montgomery Rice said. “Three years ago we began our journey on the ‘Road to 100’ We are pleased to achieve this benchmark for the third straight year and look forward to watching these students grow and develop as they prepare to join the fight for health equity.”

Major drivers on the “Road to 100” are the need to address the critical shortage of primary-care physicians in the U.S. and to increase the diversity of the healthcare workforce, particularly the number of Black males in medicine. Just 5 percent of U.S. doctors were Black/African-American in 2019, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The percentage of Black/African-American students entering medical school that same year stood at 7.1 percent of the total.

Of the entire class, 52 men and women hail from Georgia.