Morgan State University in Baltimore is the proposed home of a recent medical school, marking the primary time in 45 years that a medical school will open at a historically Black college or university. 

In line with CBS News, the HBCU is teaming up with Ascension St. Agnes Hospital to launch a for-profit, private medical school to offer more opportunities to underserved students.

“Let’s do that for Baltimore, let’s do that for our community,” Dr. John Sealey, Founding Dean of the proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU, told the news outlet. 

The college, which is ready to open in 2024, can have 700 students and 150 employees. In line with Jon D’Souza, Chief Medical Officer at Ascension St. Agnes, the potential school will help increase the variety of physicians and profit the community.

“There’s a shortage in the following 10 years, anywhere between 35,000 and 120,000 physicians in america of America,” D’Souza said. “We would like to be certain we’re doing our part in training that next generation, and we also need to be certain that the physicians we’re training are coming from the community they’re going to serve,” he added. 

As a community hospital, Ascension St. Agnes said future students would get training that may’t be found in every single place.

“It’s going to have a powerful emphasis on population health. Which means we don’t just fix an issue when it becomes a medical issue; we work inside communities to forestall problems,” said D’Souza. 

The proposed school’s announcement comes during HBCU Awareness Month. Maryland is home to 4. Along with Morgan State, there’s Coppin State University, Bowie State, in addition to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.