September 10, 2024
Morehouse School Of Medicine’s Valerie Montgomery Rice Celebrates 10-Year Presidency
As president, Dr. Montgomery Rice has contributed to the outstanding growth of student enrollment and work toward health equity in Atlanta.
Morehouse School of Medicine’s Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice has celebrated her 10th year as president of the medical school in Atlanta.
The Georgia native is the sixth president and first woman to lead the private historically Black medical school, which was originally a part of Morehouse College before it became independent in 1981. According to an exclusive feature by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, published in MSM News, Morehouse School of Medicine students and faculty spoke highly of the acclaimed infertility specialist and researcher for her contributions to the institution as she congregated with returning and first-year scholars during a welcome celebration.
Under Montgomery Rice’s leadership, MSM enrollment has seen a vast influx in students since her inaugural year, when the school only enrolled 56 students compared to the boost of 100 students each year and an estimated 225 over the next decade. “She’s got a big presence here,” said first-year student Justin Barthel. “She’s highly regarded, highly respected, and she chose to be here.”
Her role at Morehouse School of Medicine has exceeded her expertise in training the next generation of Black doctors, and she continues to focus on a larger goal: to address disparities in healthcare. “It’s not only who we educate and train, but how we train and educate healthcare professionals to understand patients in a holistic way,” Montgomery Rice said. “And then where we place these healthcare assets throughout communities so they are easier to access, closer to where people work, live, play and pray.” These efforts include restoring care to Atlanta patients affected by two previous closures of Atlanta Medical Center locations in downtown and East Point, which has caused a health crisis for several low-income residents of color in the city.
Dubbed by MSM faculty as the “masterful fundraiser,” the MSM president was acknowledged for her key contributions to securing a $175 million gift this summer from Michael R. Bloomberg’s philanthropic initiative. The funding follows a 2020 gift of $26.3 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative to support HBCU students. Gianluca Tosini, Morehouse School of Medicine’s chief scientific research officer, spoke to the president’s ability to obtain necessary resources for the institution and frame complex research projects “within the bigger picture of the school, which is health equity and health justice.” In 2015, the school saw a donation from baseball legend Hank Aaron and his wife Billye Suber Aaron, who was impressed by Montgomery Rice’s determination “to try and make the school what she dreamed it could be.”
Before her presidency at Morehouse School of Medicine, Montgomery Rice served as dean and executive vice president of the medical school. Before she assumed her position at MSM, she worked as a faculty member at various health centers. She is the founding director of the Center for Women’s Health Research at Meharry Medical College, which has been noted as the first research center in the nation to examine diseases that largely affect women of color. Her accolades and honors include a Horatio Alger Award, 100 Most Influential Georgians, The Dean Griffin Community Service Award from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the Girls Inc. 2019 Smart Award, The National Medical Association OB/GYN 2019 Legend of the Section Award, American Medical Women’s Association Elizabeth Blackwell Medal, Working Mother Media Multicultural Women’s Legacy Award, among others.
As Montgomery Rice embraces another year leading the Atlanta medical institution, she is ready and equipped to train more Black doctors with a commitment to position them in areas of high need, including primary care and pediatrics.
RELATED CONTENT: President of Morehouse College To Retire Next Year