Stanford School of Medicine (SoM) is a leader in the biomedical revolution, with a long tradition of excellence in research, creative teaching, and effective clinical therapies. While Stanford has an established history of and commitment to supporting diversity in our training programs, African-American, Black, and Caribbean (ABC) students remain underrepresented. This particular underrepresentation also persists in faculty and trainee hiring within our institution. To address these issues, we intentionally established mutually beneficial partnerships with seventeen Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) under our HBCU Engagement Strategy. 

The HBCU Engagement Strategy falls under the SoM’s REACH Initiative, a set of initiatives to advance health equity by targeting key opportunities in the MD/PhD pipeline to enhance the diversity of students and provide them with rich experiences participating in health equity research and caring for the underserved. It is dedicated to training a new generation of leaders in medicine and science who will actively promote health equity and social justice and work to reduce our society’s devastating health disparities. 

Working together synergistically, our aim is to enhance and create new opportunities for intentional and multi-directional collaboration with all HBCUs, as well as work to increase diversity in the academic research pipeline broadly.