About Us
Founded in 1999, the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance seeks to eliminate health disparities by developing and supporting collaborative initiatives between Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, community partners, and the individuals, families, and communities we serve.
Dr. Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD, serves as the executive director and leads the MVA in expanding its community-engaged research initiatives while continuing to cultivate its existing programs.
The work of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance is centered around the purposeful support of health equity and healthcare access for all, training and mentoring of students and faculty, and expertise in community engaged research.
Mission
The Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance’s mission is to enrich learning and advance clinical, translational and basic research focused on ending health disparities by developing and supporting mutually beneficial partnerships, programs, and initiatives between Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the communities we serve.
Vision
The Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance will be a leader in advancing inter-institutional collaborations to enhance and support high-impact translational research, inter-professional learning and bidirectional community engagement.
History
In the fall of 1998, Dr. John Maupin, President of Meharry Medical College, and Dr. Harry Jacobson, Vice Chancellor of Health Affairs and Director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, began informal talks to explore opportunities for a mutually beneficial collaboration. A series of meetings at both campuses was held with chairs from the Schools of Medicine departments.
Both Meharry and Vanderbilt had existed since the mid-1870s, but they were completely separate. There were brief interchanges from time to time, and a few faculty from both campuses would teach or conduct joint research programs. However, there was little or no interchange otherwise.
With the changing patterns of healthcare, managed care, increasing costs, more specialization of clinical care and the need for collaborative efforts, Maupin and Jacobson set about determining the areas of common interest between the institutions. After nearly a year of faculty meetings, it was determined that there were areas of common interest to be explored.
Collaborative areas included:
- undergraduate medical education, with a focus on the clinical years for senior electives and third-year clerkships
- shared residency training programs
- shared library services and informatics
- joint research and research training programs
- collaboration with community partners, focusing on care to the uninsured, poorly insured and underserved populations
- surgery, pediatrics, ophthalmology, orthopedics, urology, cardiology and other medical specialties
The Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance opened on Jan. 2, 1999, under the leadership of Dr. Clifton K. Meador. Dr. Meador served as Executive Director until he retired in 2012. A search committee with members from both institutions was formed just before his retirement to recruit the Alliance’s next leader. Dr. Consuelo H. Wilkins became Executive Director in June 2012, leading the Alliance in Community Based Research until 2020, when Dr. Karen Winkfield assumed the role.
CKM Lecture
COMMUNITY HEALTH LEADERSHIP AWARD
The Clifton K. Meador Community Health Leadership Award was named in his honor and given to an individual in the community whose leadership and accomplishments have contributed significantly to improving access to quality care for low-income, uninsured people in Nashville and the surrounding area.
2023 Recipient: Rhonda Switzer-Nadasdi, DMD, Executive Director, Interfaith Dental Clinic
Contact Us
(615) 963-2820
mva@meharry-vanderbilt.org
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