A group of 13 academic health institutions and historically black colleges in Maryland signed a memorandum of understanding May 5 in Baltimore to launch an alliance that will focus on diversifying the state’s healthcare workforce.

“This is a landmark alliance in the history of Maryland healthcare,” said Sandra Angell, RN, associate dean for student affairs at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Nursing, an alliance member. “For the first time, academic and medical institutions are coming together to ensure the growing demand for healthcare will be met in the future.”

The Maryland Alliance to Transform the Health Professions, a spin-off of the Sullivan Alliance to Transform America’s Health Professions, is committed to a larger and more ethnically representative healthcare workforce and providing a working model for other states.

“As a member of this partnership, we are committed to increasing still further the diversity of our student population, which will in turn enhance the diversity of Maryland’s nurses and thereby improve the extent and quality of care we provide to all our residents,” said Janet D. Allan, RN, PhD, FAAN, dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing, one of the alliance members.

Other alliance members include the following:

• Bowie State University

• Coppin State University

• Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

• Morgan State University

• University of Maryland Baltimore

• University of Maryland (College Park) School of Public Health

• University of Maryland Eastern Shore

• University of Maryland School of Medicine

• University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

• University of Maryland Dental School

• Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The goal of the Sullivan Alliance, an initiative of the Washington, D.C.-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, is to transform the health professions to help eliminate gaps in health status and expand access to care.