Dr. Michael L. Zollicoffer, known throughout Baltimore simply as “Dr. Z,” is a pediatrician, mentor, and community healer carrying forward a proud family legacy of service.

His father, Dr. Lawrence Zollicoffer, helped integrate the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine and co-founded one of Baltimore’s first minority-owned medical centers. His mother, Mary Batts Zollicoffer, was a devoted teacher who called patients herself to remind them of appointments. From their example, Michael learned that medicine begins long before the waiting room.

Following his father’s footsteps, he studied medicine at UNC. After residency, he returned home to Baltimore, first directing the Morgan State University infirmary, then opening his own practice and urgent-care center on Lafayette Avenue in West Baltimore.

For nearly forty years, Dr. Z has lived by one rule: no one is turned away. If a patient can pay, they do; if they can’t, he still treats them. He answers calls day and night, sometimes sleeping in the back of the clinic so he’s always within reach. He’s cared for three generations of families, including children who grew up to bring in children of their own. He measures success not in wealth but in trust.

Beyond the exam room, Dr. Z is shaping the next generation of healers. Students from Johns Hopkins, Coppin State, Morgan State, and the University of Maryland complete their clinical hours at his clinic, learning the values of compassionate, culturally competent, barrier-free care. He hosts screenings, seminars, and community programs, often turning fundraisers into teachable moments about giving back. To his patients and students alike, he’s a steady father figure, someone who mends both bodies and the broken bond between families and the health system.

In 2024, Dr. Z faced his own fight with aggressive cancer. When treatment costs mounted, the same community he’d served for decades rallied to his side. Even while undergoing chemotherapy, he kept treating patients, often with his pump still attached. That experience inspired the creation of Dr. Z’s Clinic, a nonprofit dedicated to providing free and reduced-cost care, training young professionals, and building a self-sustaining health resource for Baltimore.