HEALTH

Meharry Medical College degree program placed on probation for 'notable areas of concern'

Nashville Tennessean

A national accrediting agency has placed Meharry Medical College's degree program on probation after an inspection earlier this year found "notable areas of concern," including a shortage of faculty and student services, college officials said.

The news comes 10 months after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education placed Meharry's School of Medicine on probation. In that case, the probation was lifted last month, according to Meharry.

In this most recent case, the decision came from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The agency's spokesman Stuart Heiser declined to comment, saying that his organization may only disclose the accreditation status of a given program.

As of Friday, the Liaison Committee's website shows that Meharry is fully accredited and does not indicate the probationary status, which was disclosed by Meharry President and CEO James Hildreth in a Nov. 9 letter to students and faculty.

Former Meharry College presidentDr. Henry Foster, former Meharry College president and Surgeon General nominee, dies

Hildreth said the program remains accredited and that day-to-day operations and classes will not be affected.

"We will now collaborate with (the Liaison Committee) to develop an action plan to address these concerns as quickly and thoroughly as possible," Hildreth wrote in the letter to students and faculty about the probationary status. "We are, of course, disappointed to be in this position, but we appreciate (the Liaison Committee's) feedback and view this process as an opportunity to grow, learn and become stronger as a 21st century medical school."

The letter did not address specific deficiencies cited by the Liaison Committee. Hildreth was unavailable for comment Friday.

But Jeannette South-Paul, Meharry's senior vice president and chief academic officer, told The Tennessean that a Liaison Committee site visit in March identified a number of "infrastructure" deficiencies.

They included not having enough broadband internet access for students, not enough around-the-clock study spaces and not enough access to student financial aid, career and wellness advising. South-Paul also said students were not getting evaluated in a timely fashion because of a shortage of faculty members, a problem the college hopes to soon remedy with new hires, South-Paul said.

"We are, as you can imagine, disappointed with this (probationary status) finding, but it's part of the process that medical schools go through to be evaluated by an external accreditor to see if we can meet their guidelines, " she said. "We are very confident that we are going to address these findings and that our students will not miss a beat. They will continue to receive their degrees in a timely fashion."

Chartered in 1915, but with origins dating back to 1876, Meharry Medical College is one of the nation’s oldest and largest institutions that was historically created to educate African-Americans in health science careers.

The Nashville Mayor's Office confirmed Friday that Hildreth spoke to Mayor John Cooper about the probationary status last week. Though the college is not a part of the Metro government, the situation prompted a statement of support from the mayor's office:

"Nashville is proud that Meharry Medical College has called our city home since the last 20th century and produces a significant percentage of Black physicians in our nation," Cooper's spokesman T.J. Ducklo said. He added, "Mayor Cooper and Dr. Hildreth have discussed how the city can continue to be supportive of Meharry's work as one of the nation's leading institutions for aspiring medical professionals."

Frank Gluck is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @FrankGluck.

Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest political news, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience, and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's daily sites.