Howard University to Build New Hospital

Howard University has unveiled its plans to build a new hospital in front of its current Howard University Hospital and connect the two facilities, local media reports say.

The university representatives said these plans would not cause any disruption to the operation of the existing building, and the medical staff will continue to deliver care to the community and its patients amid the construction of the new 200-bed facility, Erudera.com reports.

“We have to go before the state health planning agency to get the permission and ability to construct a new health care facility. We have regulatory processes to go through from a land use perspective and, certainly, community engagement. So all of those things are starting in earnest now,” Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Howard University Rashad Young told News4.

Young said the two hospitals will be connected to create an “integrated academic medical center.” The new hospital worth $650 million is expected to open in late 2028.

For the past four years, Howard University Hospital has been managed by Maryland-based Adventist HealthCare, the only health system in Montgomery County.

The school and Adventist HealthCare had been negotiating for the sale of the building, but these talks have since been blocked. However, Young told the same source that the construction of the new hospital will continue regardless of the outcome of these ongoing talks.

Howard University Hospital, affiliated with Howard University, was initially established as Freedmen’s Hospital in 1862 to provide medical care to freed enslaved people who were denied access to healthcare elsewhere.

This institution is now the only teaching hospital in the nation located on the campus of a historically Black university. It has about 1,700 employees, and according to statistics, half of its graduates go to assist patients in underserved communities each year.

Howard University, established on March 2, 1867, is one of the leading research universities in the nation. According to the National Science Foundation, the university is the top producer of African American undergraduates who later get doctorate degrees in natural sciences.

Howard enrolls nearly 9,689 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students across 45 US states, the District of Columbia, and nine other nations.

The university is ranked second best historically Black college in the US News & World Report rankings, behind Spelman College. Among the notable alumni of Howard University is US Vice President Kamala, the Democratic party’s presidential nominee against Republican Donald Trump after Biden dropped out.