HBCUs Leading Next Generation Of Minority Health Care Research

In 2013, Howard University was classified by the National Science Foundation as the top producer of African Americans who go on to earn doctorates in science and engineering.

In 2014, exactly 40 years after Howard became the first historically black college or university (HBCU) to establish a school of allied health. The university will debut the Howard University Health Sciences Simulation Center, a 6,000-square foot facility where undergraduate students and post-graduate trainees in its College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences will train and practice in a “virtual” hospital environment with state-of-the-art medical equipment, human patient simulators, and training suites for emergency, surgical and intensive care protocols and services.

In Houston, Prairie View A&M University is home to one of the oldest and most renowned historically black colleges of nursing in the country. School officials say its history and tradition of producing front line health care practitioners for underserved community drives its core mission and learning experience of its students.

Prairie View is one of several HBCUs leading a charge to diversify health professions. According to the US Department of Labor and Statistics, the registered nursing industry is expected to grow 26 percent within the next decade more than 14 percent faster than all other industries.

Read more: Huffington Post