It started in 1946 with Franklin C. McLean, MD, PhD, who was a visionary in medical education. Dr. McLean was accustomed to breaking "new ground," first as a founding medical director of the Peking University Medical College in China and then as the first chairman of the department of medicine of the University of Chicago's teaching hospital and head of the University of Chicago Clinics. Dr. McLean was acutely aware of the paucity of "Negro" doctors who were trained in the medical sub-specialties. Determined to effect change in this area, Dr. McLean and a group of colleagues formed Provident Medical Associates; an organization that provided opportunities for subspecialty training to doctors on staff at Provident Hospital in Chicago. This organization would later become National Medical Fellowships, Inc.