Meharry Medical College believes that the answers to disease and chronic illnesses may be within and among different racial/ethnic and disadvantaged population groups.  Training individuals from different cultures and from disadvantaged backgrounds early in their education appears to be desirable for promoting health and decreasing disparities between and among groups.  Meharry addresses cultural competency as a necessary tool for students.  Exposing students to topics and issues of culture, cultural diversity, and cultural comptenency as concepts is a must, given the changing demographics of this natioin.  The integration of cultural competency into the curriculum will expose students to similarities and differences between and among cultures that they may build upon as health care professionals.

The concept of "cultural competence" in health care has received unprecedented national attention over the past ten years.  However, at Meharry Medical College and the Center of Excellence, this concept has been imbedded in the teaching and training tradition since 1876.  The re-emergence of this concept becomes more compelling as Meharry redirects its medical and dental education programs toward a more integrated focus, in part because of the evident disparities in health status among certain racial and ethnic groups, immigrants, and limited-English proficiency populations.  In Tennessee, as in the nation, the health status of all citizens is at risk; therefore, all physicians must reflect not only a cultural awareness to the health care needs of others who may be different, but they must possess a set of skills in cultural competency that will demonstrate commitment in improving the health status of the individual and the community.