California is granting $50 million to Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) to support its efforts to increase diversity in the state’s healthcare industry.
Spectrum News 1 reports that the money will go toward a new four-year medical degree program — an addition to the partnership between CDU and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA — to support the success of students of color in medicine.
“With this funding, CDU aims to increase the number of Black medical graduates practicing in the state of California by almost 30% and the number of Latinx graduates by nearly 20%,” said CDU President and CEO Dr. David Carlisle.
“This will not only enhance our attractiveness and reputation as a health professions university, but it will also help us address our mission in a very direct way by providing us the additional resources and infrastructure necessary to train the health professionals,” Carlisle added.
Construction of a new building will start in 2022. This facility will feature classrooms, laboratories, student common spaces, and staff and faculty offices. The program will begin accepting students by Fall 2023.
A Focus on Diversity
Campus initiatives dedicated to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion continue across the US.
Tuskegee University in Alabama recently received a $5 million grant from Google to help students of color break through and succeed in the technology industry.
Several Kentucky universities were also awarded a $1.7 million donation from Toyota to provide full-tuition engineering scholarships to female and minority students.
University of Maryland, College Park has also invested $40 million over the next decade to work on diversifying its faculty and to improve campus culture and racial tolerance
