Racial inequalities in health care may be partly attributable to racial, cultural, and communication barriers between minority patients and white health care providers.  Such barriers might arise from cultural or linguistic incongruities between patient and physician, from lack of mutual trust, or from racial discrimination.  If these barriers existed, one might expect patients and physicians of similar racial or ethnic backgrounds to have better communication and more salubrious relationships than those of dissimilar background.  Better patient-patient relations might, in turn, lead to greater patient satisfaction and more effective use of the healthcare system. However, this is not always the case.

Problems in communication due to cultural differences between patients and physicians often contribute to a disparity in the understanding that patients and physicians have regarding the cause of disease and the effectiveness of available treatments.

The Center of Excellence has objectives that address cultural diversity.  These objectives develop methodologies, plans and procedures to improve the information resources, clinical education, curricula, and cultural competence of the Meharry graduates as they relate to minority health issues.  These objectives include development and implementation of three Objective Structured Clinical Examination [OSCE] cases on cultural and language competency related to health beliefs, folk illness, and folk therapy including alternative ethnic pharmacology in the Hispanic and African American cultures. 

First and second-year students will be introduced to an abbreviated medical Spanish vocabulary, key phrases, and the use of Spanish-English translators, thereby increasing the number who will be able to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients.

On this website health disparities, faculty development, cultural competency, and faculty and student research opportunities are addressed. It also contains information for premedical students and premedical advisors.