Newswise — Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a gift of $5 million in seed funding to support the creation of the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine (XOCOM) , a newly established medical school in New Orleans founded by Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health. Earlier this year, Xavier University of Louisiana, a historically Black college and university (HBCU) with a strong track record of sending graduates into the medical field, and Ochsner Health, the Gulf South’s leading not-for-profit health system with a long academic record of training physicians, announced their partnership to establish Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine (XOCOM) to address health disparities in diverse communities and helping fulfill the urgent need for more Black and Brown physicians in Louisiana and the nation. The new medical school will be located in Benson Tower next to Caesars Superdome, in the BioDistrict of downtown New Orleans, and will be the only HBCU medical school in the Gulf South.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ investment in XOCOM’s planning is part of its Greenwood Initiative – an effort that seeks to advance racial wealth equity by addressing systemic underinvestment in Black institutions and communities. Four already existing historically Black medical schools--Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science, Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine— are the recipients of $600 million to bolster their en.