In 1990, the Harvard Medical School Minority Faculty Development Program (MFDP) was established to serve as an umbrella organization for minority recruitment, development and retention initiatives undertaken at HMS and affiliated hospitals under the leadership of Dr. Joan Y. Reede. Before joining the HMS faculty in 1989, Dr. Reede served as the medical director of a Boston community health center, and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. She has also worked as a pediatrician in community and academic health centers, juvenile prisons, and public schools.
The MFDP offers programming to identify and support the needs of individuals and institutions, while also increasing the number of students interested in careers in science and medicine ranging from grade school mentoring initiatives to career development and ladder programs for current faculty.
These long-term efforts continue to lead to increases in the number of underrepresented minority faculty.