About
A public health platform built on the legacy of HBCUs.
HealthHBCU harnesses the reach, trust, talent and legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities to help build healthier communities.
Our story
For generations, HBCUs have educated healthcare leaders, strengthened communities, advanced research and created pathways to opportunity. HealthHBCU builds upon that legacy by connecting HBCUs with healthcare organizations, community partners, students, alumni and public health leaders to address some of today's most important health challenges.
Our goal is not simply to provide health information. We turn education into engagement, engagement into action, and action into measurable community impact.
Through health education, community-based programs, research and insights, workforce development and strategic partnerships, HealthHBCU creates opportunities for HBCUs to play an even greater role in improving health outcomes on campus and in the communities they serve.
HealthHBCU is where the legacy of HBCUs meets the future of Black health.
Our public health approach
Health is shaped by much more than what happens inside a doctor's office.
Where people live, learn, work, worship and build relationships can influence access to healthcare, preventive behaviors, trust, health literacy and ultimately health outcomes. HBCUs sit at the intersection of many of these factors.
They are educational institutions, employers, research centers, cultural anchors, trusted community partners, and the training ground for generations of healthcare and public health professionals. HealthHBCU activates that infrastructure for public health.
Students are connected to families. Alumni are connected to communities across the country. Faculty and healthcare professionals provide expertise. HBCUs themselves often serve communities experiencing significant health disparities. That creates a powerful public health network.
Programs designed to reach
- 01Students
- 02Faculty & Staff
- 03Alumni
- 04Families
- 05Communities
This approach allows a campus-based initiative to become a broader community health movement.
Public health in action
Turning health priorities into programs communities can experience and use.
Health priorities we address
How programs show up
Every initiative begins with a simple question: how can the power of HBCUs help create healthier communities?
Mission
To harness the trusted influence of HBCUs to advance health education, develop the healthcare workforce, celebrate Black excellence and create meaningful community impact.
Vision
A national network of HBCUs working collaboratively to improve community health — each institution a hub for health education, community engagement, research, workforce development and public health innovation.
The HealthHBCU public health network
HealthHBCU provides the connective infrastructure.
We bring together institutions, communities, healthcare organizations, nonprofit partners and funders around shared health priorities.
HBCUs
provide the trust.
Communities
provide the voice.
Healthcare partners
provide resources and expertise.
HealthHBCU
connects the ecosystem.
Why HBCUs
Trust is the scarcest resource in health. HBCUs already have it — with students, with alumni, with the neighborhoods that surround their campuses.
Health Education
Culturally relevant health education built for Black communities and delivered through trusted HBCU voices.
HBCU Health Leaders
Celebrating the physicians, nurses, scientists and executives HBCUs produce — and inspiring who comes next.
Workforce Development
Mentorship, internships, scholarships and employer partnerships that open doors into healthcare careers.
Community Engagement
Health brought directly into communities through campus activations, classics, screenings and wellness events.
Leadership
Dr. Renee Alston
Executive Director
Curtis Wade
Chief Partnerships Officer
Dr. Simone Frazier
Chief Health Officer
Andre Beaumont
Director of Campus Programs
Advisory board
- Deans of HBCU health science programs
- Practicing physicians and nurse leaders
- Public health researchers
- Student government representatives
- Community health organization directors
- Healthcare industry executives
A legacy with receipts
1837
The first HBCU is founded. Over the next century, more than 100 institutions follow.
1876
Meharry Medical College opens, and HBCUs begin producing the majority of Black physicians in America.
1960s
HBCU campuses become the organizing engine of the Civil Rights Movement.
Today
HBCUs enroll roughly 300,000 students and remain the most trusted institutions in many Black communities.
Next
HealthHBCU turns that trust into a coordinated national health platform.
What we believe
Trust over reach
We would rather be believed by a thousand people than ignored by a million.
Students at the center
Every program creates a path for a student, not just a headline for a partner.
Culturally fluent
We speak the way our communities speak, in the places they already gather.
Evidence, then story
Clinically reviewed information delivered with the warmth of a family conversation.
For questions or partnership inquiries, email info@healthhbcu.com