Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is a historically black institution that was established in 1975 with the mission to recruit and train minorities and other students as physicians, biomedical scientists, and public health professionals committed to the health care needs of minorities and the underserved. In 1983, MSM joined the Atlanta University Center, a consortium of six predominantly black institutions of higher learning. MSM holds the maximum accreditation (seven years) by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and full accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. MSM residency programs are fully accredited by the Accrediting Council on Graduate Medical Education.

Today, MSM is a four-year medical school conferring the MD, MPH, MS (in clinical research), and PhD (in biomedical science) degrees. Approximately 80% of its students are AA, and about 10% are other minorities. The MSM family includes approximately 245 full-time faculty, 775 staff, 200 students, and 125 medical residents. MSM has residency programs in Family Medicine, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, General Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. MSM residents serve in hospitals that address the health care needs of Atlanta's underserved population. Eighty-four percent of all MSM graduates are practicing in underserved communities. On three national surveys in the 1990s, MSM has ranked number one among medical schools in the percentage of graduates in primary care practices (Association of American Medical Colleges, 1993, and the American Medical Student Association, 1995 and 1999 Seventy-five percent of MD graduates in 2000 entered primary care residencies (the U.S. average is 18%).

Despite its relative youth and initial focus on education, MSM has developed a strong research infrastructure for conducting state-of-the-art basic science research. The MSM faculty excels in basic science research. Among the nation's 125 medical schools, MSM ranks 81st in competitive research awards-ahead of almost a third of the medical schools in the country, all but two of which are older. Among Georgia's four medical schools, MSM ranks number two in overall research support from the National Institutes of Health. Established in 1996, the MSM Neuroscience Institute is the first research center devoted to neuroscience research and training at a predominantly African-American higher education institution. MSM focuses its research on diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect African Americans and other minorities. The Cardiovascular Research Center, for example, conducts investigations into heart disease and other cardiovascular disorders, with an emphasis on their impact on minority populations.

In addition to the research infrastructure for basic scientists, MSM has also made significant progress in strengthening its infrastructure for conducting clinical and population-based research. The National Center for Primary Care (NCPC) is a national resource for encouraging doctors to pursue primary-care careers, for making primary-care practice more effective, and for supporting primary-care professionals serving in underserved areas. The NCPC team has developed a substantial portfolio of research and training activities, including competitive funding from NHLBI, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Annually, MSM sponsors educational conferences on women's health care, HIV/AIDS, managed care, family practice and pediatrics. MSM also sponsors educational pipeline programs for young African American students interested in health careers.