The North Harlem Medical Association, a branch of the National Medical Association, consisted primarily of physicians, dentists and pharmacists who practiced within the Harlem community but were not affiliated with the Harlem Hospital. Like their peers at the Hospital, they dedicated themselves to improving medical facilities for the black community and to ameliorating conditions affecting health and sanitation, but during the 1920s and 1930s they preferred to operate independently of the city government and often differed with Dr. Wright as to the best methods for attaining their goals. In the case of the Rosenwald Fund controversy that divided the Harlem community in 1930, they stood strongly in favor of a privately funded hospital for blacks and controlled by blacks, while Dr. Wright stood on the side of equal opportunity and integration within the existing municipal framework.