By Special to the Daily World
Morehouse School of Medicine has announced that Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice has been named dean and executive vice president, effective June 1. A renowned reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist, Montgomery Rice will oversee the academic enterprise and guide the continued advancement of the school’s patient care, research, community health, and education and training programs.
In his announcement, Morehouse School of Medicine President John E. Maupin Jr. said, “Dr. Montgomery Rice is a dynamic leader with an impressive ensemble of skills and experiences that are requisite in advancing the school during this period of unprecedented change in the healthcare industry and academic medicine.”
Montgomery Rice is currently the dDirector of the Center for Women’s Health Research and professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, division reproductive endocrinology and infertility, at Meharry. She has held several leadership roles at Meharry, most notably, dean of the School of Medicine and senior vice president of health affairs. Under her leadership, Meharry experienced many significant achievements; most notably, an increase in the medical class size, a robust increase in annual research funding and national prominence, and the expansion of the Veterans Administration affiliation by establishing the first outpatient clinic for veterans care on a historically Black college campus. Also, Montgomery Rice is credited with founding the Center for Women’s Health Research, one of the nation’s first research centers devoted to studying diseases that disproportionately impact women of color.
In addition, she spearheaded the research partnership with the University of Zambia, which focuses on the development of a vaginal microbicide for the prevention of HIV.
Prior to her appointment at Meharry, Montgomery Rice was director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and infertility at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
Her other leadership positions at the University of Kansas School of Medicine included vice chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and medical director, Clinical Trials Division, Clinical Research Institute.
Montgomery Rice currently serves on the FDA Advisory Panel for Reproductive and Urological Drugs. She is the recipient of the 2011 American Medical Women’s Association Elizabeth Blackwell Award, one of the highest honors for contributions to women’s health.
A Georgia native, Montgomery Rice received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Georgia Institute of Technology and her medical degree from Harvard University Medical School.
She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Emory University School of Medicine and her fellowship in reproductive endocrinologist and infertility at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit.
She also completed the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Montgomery Rice stated that she is honored to be a part of Morehouse School of Medicine’s legacy of leadership and believes that the school is uniquely poised to make its greatest contributions to a healthier Georgia and the nation.
“I am pleased to be back in Georgia and to be a part of advancing the vision of this great community — focused academic health center. This is an exciting time to be at Morehouse School of Medicine as we embrace the tools of modern medicine: integration, collaboration and translation to transform the healthcare environment and seek solutions for the issues that plague the health of vulnerable communities of our society. Morehouse School of Medicine is on a mission and I am looking forward to being on that journey, effectively engaging communities, educating the leaders of tomorrow, and developing the science that will change the world.”
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