HJAR Jul/Aug 2023

DIALOGUE 20 JUL / AUG 2023 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS the South are where the majority of Blacks were not Catholics. They were of other Christian denominations. Louisiana was somewhat unusual in the Deep South to have enclaves with signifi- cant numbers of Black Catholics. You also have enclaves of Black Catholics in places like Mobile, but that is the reason why there aren’t many Black Catholic institutions. Black Catholics were not that numerous in the South. Now, why they were not in the North where there were significant Black Catholics as well, many who came from other countries, also speaks to the fact that investments in Black institutions were not encouraged or desirable by many sectors of our society. Editor So, a big announcement came out recently that Xavier’s partnering with Ochsner Health to establish a medical school. President Verret Yes, there was. Editor That’s a big undertaking . President Verret It is a big undertaking, but it is one that is possible. Editor How did that partnership come about? President Verret Well, that partnership comes about from years as steady partners in doing a lot of good work in building pro- grams here at Xavier. The PA program was one of those partnerships — early encoun- ters with the previous CEO of Ochsner, where we sat at lunch and discussed what the possibilities of what we could do with Xavier are. We built a number of programs. We thought of the medical school. There were a number of hurdles to that, including a number of things to resolve. There was a lot of trust built in building the elements of those programs at Xavier and the way we supported each other in going through that work. Those conversations began some time ago; the moment finally came to actually say, “Okay, it’s time to actually fish or cut bait.” We felt we were ready to take those important steps that we needed to take to actually move this project forward. Editor When do you expect the first class to start, and what are the accreditation plans? President Verret Several years, because, if you think about it, the accreditation plans are complicated enough — we are talking the window of three to five years going out. Accreditation takes some time because there are certain standards of accredita- tion that must be built, and those can be met. There are funding issues. There are issues of situation — physical space for the medical school — that have to be resolved. There’s some work identifying the founding dean and then the faculty that will support it. Those are complicated and will take time. Editor How will the partnership work? President Verret The partnership, at least the way we envision it at this point, is that basically it’s a joint partnership of setting up a medical school that is jointly owned by Ochsner, where we jointly appoint the board and have fiduciary responsibility for supporting its programs. Now there will be structures that allow for cross disciplinary interactions with the faculties of our arts and sciences for key programs, especially in developing our research programs across the institution, because we see this as not just a didactic program but also a research program that allows for a large amount of biomedical research here in New Orleans and to grow in that capacity as a city as well. We’ll jointly appoint the board — that’s the way we foresee it. There are many details that have to be resolved. Editor Do you believe this will give Xavier medical school graduates a leg up in resi- dency spots at Ochsner facilities? President Verret Well, it is not just at Och- sner, but also in residencies in this region. Because one of our goals is to enhance and grow the physicians in this region. There are goals to actually increase not only the num- bers of physicians but also the representa- tion of various groups within our practices in the Gulf Region as well.