In today's challenging economic times, more and more medical students are in need of financial assistance in order to attend medical school. Approximately 70 percent of our medical students receive some form of financial aid. Your gift to the Annual Giving Scholarship Fund provides immediate funding which will allow the School of Medicine to attract and retain the best and the brightest students regardless of their financial need.

Unrestricted gifts to the School of Medicine Annual Fund support the School's highest priorities:

• Financial aid
• Teaching
• Faculty support
• Research
• Capital projects

These gifts also allow the School of Medicine to address unforeseen opportunities to enrich education and advance knowledge. In today's ever-changing scientific and technological setting, these gifts for current use are vital to our mission.

Established in 2009, the IEE promotes, values, and advances the educational mission of the School of Medicine while enhancing the School’s leadership role in medical education nationally and internationally. Working closely with faculty, the IEE will set new standards of excellence, encourage educational research and scholarship, expand career development opportunities, and inspire and support innovative teaching techniques that meet the needs of a new generation of medical students. Learn more about IEE.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center is a state-of-the-art medical training facility that incorporates five types of simulation including: standardized patients, human patient simulation, virtual reality, task trainers and computerized simulation. The main goal of the Simulation Center is to improve safety within patient care. Current and future health care professionals “practice on plastic” honing their skills, refining advanced techniques and learning valuable social interactive tools for delivering important news to patients. This translational research becomes vital for creating the gold-standard in patient safety and medical teaching. Learn more about the Simulation Center.

The Vivien Thomas Fund for Diversity was established to increase diversity at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, thus honoring the memory of a heart surgery pioneer by removing for others the economic and racial barriers that often stood in his way. 

Denied a chance to become a doctor by the Great Depression, and initially denied the recognition he deserved for his work by old racial prejudices, Vivien Thomas proved that genius, persistence and ability can transcend artificially imposed restraints. His story now has been immortalized in the HBO film "Something the Lord Made," in the National Magazine Award-winning article with the same name, as well as in the PBS documentary "Partners of the Heart."

At Johns Hopkins, the word "breakthrough" rarely is used.  But Vivien Thomas was a pivotal player in the development of a true breakthrough at The Johns Hopkins Hospital just 60 years ago. Working with surgeon Alfred Blalock and pediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig, Thomas was part of a team that devised a means to correct a congenital heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot, or Blue Baby syndrome.

Before that time, the heart was off-limits to surgeons. Now, heart surgery is so common that in 2001 alone, 6 million patients had heart procedures. Patients leave the hospital just days after their operation. Imaging techniques developed because of heart surgery make it possible to reach the heart and correct many defects without even opening the chest. It’s hard to believe the number of changes that can be traced to a courageous team.

While that passion to discover and cure hasn’t changed at Hopkins, Vivien Thomas would be pleased to know that some things have changed.

Not only was operating on the heart considered taboo in the 1940s, but the social establishment demanded clear separation between the races. Thomas’s intelligence and dexterity won him the position of Blalock’s lab technician, but it took more than 25 years before Thomas was credited publicly for his role in devising the Blue Baby surgery. In 1976, The Johns Hopkins University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Today, his portrait hangs in the lobby of the Blalock Building at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, across from the image of Alfred Blalock.

That Hopkins is no longer a southern institution in a southern city is shown by statistics. In 2004, more than 11 percent of our medical students are black, and more than 60 of our full-time faculty, including such stars as surgeons Levi Watkins, Ben Carson, Edward Cornwell, and Vice Dean for Education David Nichols.

Just as we’re continuing to push forward in treating heart disorders -- even using stem cells to replace damaged heart muscles -- we’re not stopping where we are with diversity. We’re determined to improve opportunities for all at Johns Hopkins Medicine. That’s the best tribute we can make to the remarkable story of Vivien Thomas. With revenue from the Vivien Thomas Fund, Hopkins is committed to reaching out aggressively to groups now considered under-represented minorities to ensure the broadest possible talent pool in academic medicine and biomedical science. Our mission requires excellence, and there can be no excellence without diversity.

Contribute to the Vivien Thomas Fund

To contribute to the Vivien Thomas Fund for Diversity, please contact:

The Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine
c/o The Vivien Thomas Fund for Diversity

Location: 750 East Pratt Street, Suite 1700
Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 410-361-6548