The partnership between Ochsner Health and Xavier University of Louisiana to create a new medical school in New Orleans is a welcome development for the city and Louisiana.
The state, like the rest of the country, is facing a looming doctor shortage that is only expected to worsen over the next decade. The Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine will help close that gap, especially among doctors of color.
Last week, officials from Xavier and Ochsner unveiled the school’s location — in Benson Tower in downtown New Orleans — and introduced its founding dean, Dr. Leonardo Seoane.
Seoane said that the United States is expected to be short 86,000 physicians by 2036. Among communities of color, the number is even more stark: Black people make up 14% of the nation’s population, but only 6% of its physicians. Latinos are 19% of the overall population, but less than 7% of doctors.
XOCOM will step into that breach and become the first medical school in the Gulf South operated by a historically Black university.
The first crop of students won’t arrive for at least three years, as Seoane and others work to renovate the facilities, hire faculty, create curriculum and secure accreditation.
XOCOM will revitalize what was once a vital pathway for doctors of color. In the late 19th and early 20th century, there were more than a dozen Black medical schools, including the John D. Flint Medical College in New Orleans. But after 1910, that number shrunk precipitously.
XOCOM will be one of just five medical schools across the nation designed to serve Black students. The other four are Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, Meharry Medical College in Nashville and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Morgan State in Baltimore is in the process of starting one as well.
XOCOM has the potential to "transform generations of young Black and Brown lives," Seoane said. That's certainly true of the school's future students, but also true for the thousands of Louisianans who will one day get vital care from its graduates.
Another Louisiana HBCU, Southern University, may one day have its own medical school. A pair of resolutions currently before the Louisiana House of Representatives, if passed, would ask the school's board to "take the necessary steps" to establish medical and pharmacy schools.
The schools would join the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine on the campus of the University of Louisiana Monroe, which opened in 2020 and graduated its first class this year. VCOM’s mission aims for its graduates to serve rural communities, where doctor shortages are also acute.
We applaud the leaders of Xavier and Ochsner for having the vision to take on this task. As Louisiana confronts a raft of challenges, ambition like that shown by XOCOM's founders will help us meet the tests ahead.