01/07/19: Dr. James Hildreth, CEO & President, Meharry Medical College

Dr. James Hildreth will offer a proposal for a system to provide healthcare for the more than 100,000 indigent citizens of Nashville.  With Nashville General Hospital as the hub, the system will be a collaboration between several healthcare entities in the city including Federally Qualified Health Centers, the three large hospital systems, the health department and Meharry Medical College.  Other organizations will also be involved such that the social determinants of health can be addressed.  Nashville’s position as a healthcare capital provides a unique opportunity to tap into the best minds in healthcare and create a safety net system of care that can be a model for the nation.

In July, 2005, Dr. Hildreth became director of the NIH-funded Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research at Meharry. Dr. Hildreth is the first African American in the 125-year history of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine with tenure in the basic sciences to earn full professorship. He recently joined Meharry Medical College as the 12th president and chief executive officer. Meharry is one of the nation’s largest private, independent historically black academic health science centers.