Albany Medical Center makes history with its latest announcement of its new chief of surgery and chair of its Department of Surgery. According to Albany Med, Dr. KMarie King is the first Black woman to be named chair of surgery at an academic health science center in the U.S. The Atlanta surgeon, researcher, and professor — who will be taking over for Dr. Steve Stain — will begin the new role on Sept. 1. Currently, Dr. King is a professor of surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine and serves as the chief of surgery and medical director for surgical quality at Grady Memorial Hospital, a 960-bed hospital, and Level 1 trauma center located in Atlanta, GA. Not only is she trained in the area of hepatobiliary and pancreas surgery, but Dr. King has also received multiple awards for her research in the areas of the liver and pancreatic cancers. “Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. King has positioned herself as a proven leader in all areas of academic medicine, including patient care,...

Meharry Medical College has always upheld the philosophy of “serving the underserved” and strived to make this their greatest legacy during its 144-year existence. According to Forbes, its legacy has been threatened by the student loan debt enemy that impacts close to 930 students that attend Meharry across its three schools. This year (2020), the school of medicine’s graduating class averaged $285,743 in debt. The American business magazine also reports that not only is student loan debt a challenge but Historically Black Colleges and Universities, who receive 70 percent less in endowments than non-HBCUs, are historically underfunded. “We have to live up to the same standards as the other 170 medical schools,” said Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, Meharry’s president on the topic of accreditation. “There’s this assumption that somehow we’re different because we happen to be predominately Black,” Dr. Hildreth said. “I’m not diminishing the HBCU part because it is special, and we want to...