It’s over and done, seventy years after receiving the Doctor of Medicine degree from Meharry Medical College (Nashville), Charles B. McIntosh returned to the college for celebration of his reunion. He was honored as the only member of his 1955 class in attendance. At the 60th reunion three other class members attended.
Meharry is one of three other HBCU medical colleges: Howard University (DC), Morehouse (Atlanta), and Charles Drew (LA). These schools still produce the majority of Black physicians and dentists in the country. About 300 alumni members were in attendance from the graduates of class years ending in zero and five. The four-day weekend of was programed in continuing education concerning Meharry’s Global Health Initiatives and understanding the future role of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and practice., and a host of social activities.
Meharry President Dr. James E.K.Hildreth stressed the importance of alumni benevolence to support on-going vital research and community activities despite federal withdrawal of research grants and medical services in the current political environment.
Today, the first African American pediatrician in Jacksonville continues to help young people realize and bring to life their dreams.
A native of the city, he graduated from Florida A&M University and went on to get a master’s degree in biology from New York University and an M.D. at Meharry Medical College. He accomplished all of this in spite of the racial oppression seen and felt at that time.
“We all understood that we were in as segregated society, and we accepted that,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh would go on to open his private practice in pediatrics in Jacksonville in 1958. He served on the Florida Ethnics Commission and helped found the Florida Sickle Cell Foundation in 1973, In December of 2005, the UF Health Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease Center was named in his honor.
Dr. Rahwa Merari, Director of Alumni Affairs, says Meharry will celebrate one-hundred and fifty years of medical education, established in October, 1876, and attained certification in medical education in 1915. The school has grown exponentially, transformed many lives professionally, and saved countless thousands of others through its graduates. Dr. McIntosh says he hopes the Good Lord will allow him to attend next year’s celebration.
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