Xavier University planning to open medical school

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Xavier University is planning to open a medical school in partnership with Ochsner, one of the region’s largest health care providers.

Xavier officials say African Americans and Hispanics are persistently under-represented among physicians in the U.S. and Louisiana ranks last.

The partnership between the university and Ochsner aims to help fix that disparity.

“Our partnership with Xavier furthers our Healthy State mission of enhancing diversity among health care providers, which has been linked to better care for diverse communities of our region and throughout the nation,” said Dr. Leonardo Seoane, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for Ochsner Health. “We must work together to solve the challenges faced in our health care workforce and ensure communities across the country have access to the highest quality of care.”

Senator Bill Cassidy says the college of medicine will also help the looming doctor shortage.

“You’re going to have more doctors and more opportunities for people to become doctors who then are going to provide health care to those who may not otherwise have health care,” Sen. Cassidy says.

Xavier has not announced when the school will open.

This will make Xavier the only HBCU to have a medical school in the state and only the fifth in the country.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2023 WVUE. All rights reserved.