MSM Part of $15M Thermo Fisher Scientific COVID-19 Initiative

​Morehouse School of Medicine is one of the first five Historically Black Colleges and Universities to benefit from a $15 million Thermo Fisher Scientific initiative that will make COVID-19 testing more widely available to all returning students, faculty, and staff just in time for the start of the fall semester.

Named “The Just Project,” in honor of pioneering biologist Ernest Everett Just, Thermo Fisher plans to donate $15 million in diagnostic instruments, test kits and related supplies. The company will also provide technical assistance to HBCUs seeking to establish or expand their laboratories to provide regular on-campus COVID-19 testing throughout the 2020-21 school year.

“Our first priority is to ensure a safe and healthy environment on our campuses,” said Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, president and dean of Morehouse School of Medicine. “The support we receive from Thermo Fisher Scientific through The Just Project allows us to offer easy access to COVID-19 testing that is so important to getting our students back to school safely.”

Laboratories at MSM, Howard University, Meharry Medical College, Xavier University of Louisiana and Hampton University, along with those at other HBCUs that are expected to join the initiative over the next several weeks, will provide COVID-19 testing for their campuses and will test samples from other HBCUs across the country. HBCUs receiving these donations have committed to use the donated equipment solely to offer COVID-19 testing to HBCU faculty, staff and students at no cost.