Xavier opens Gulf South's only HBCU medical school
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine is located in Benson Tower in downtown New Orleans. Image: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
Even before celebrating its opening on Thursday, the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine already received about 600 applications for 50 spots when students arrive next year.
Why it matters: It's only the fifth HBCU-affiliated medical school and the first in the Gulf South.
The big picture: The school will fill a vital role for both New Orleans and the larger community, leaders say, as the U.S. faces a physician shortage that's expected to worsen in coming years.
- That shortage is especially acute for Black doctors and patients. Only about 6% of doctors are Black, despite representing around 14% of the U.S. population, according to 2023 numbers.
- But when Black patients get Black doctors, they tend to have better health outcomes, studies have shown.
What they're saying: "When I went to medical school, the culture was, 'Here's the bar. Either you get there or you don't.' That is not our philosophy at the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine," said Xavier Dean Leonardo Seoane during an opening day tour.
- "If we accept you into our medical school, we know you can be a doctor. … If you don't become a doctor, it's a failure for us and for you."
Zoom in: The medical school, which will operate in partnership with Ochsner Health, takes over 72,000 square feet of Benson Tower in downtown New Orleans' BioDistrict.
- Walking around the space Thursday, Seoane showed off brand-new classrooms and student support areas, plus an anatomy lab that'll eventually house cadavers.
- For the first two years of the program, Seoane said, students will primarily be in classrooms before moving into live medical scenarios and training with Ochsner.
Walking to a floor-to-ceiling window inside one of the classrooms, Seoane pointed across downtown New Orleans.
- "What this building represents, which is the future, and you actually have Charity Hospital that you can see in the background right there," he said. "That's one of the things I'm going to try to point out to the students so they can understand … where we come from and where we're going."