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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2008

MEDIA ADVISORY

MEHARRY PHYSICIAN ELECTED TO MEMBERSHIP INTO INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE

James Earl King Hildreth, M.D., Ph.D., is one of just 65 new members and five foreign associates to be honored by the IOM

(Nashville, TN) – James Earl King Hildreth, M.D., Ph.D., director, Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, and professor of Internal Medicine at Meharry Medical College has been elected for membership into The Institute of Medicine (IOM). Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. There are just 1,736 elected members in the IOM in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Hildreth is among two other Meharrians who hold this prestigious honor: the late Lloyd C. Elam, M.D., sixth president and Henry Foster, M.D. former acting president of the College and professor emeritus OB/GYN.

"It is a great pleasure to welcome these distinguished and influential individuals to the Institute of Medicine," said IOM President Harvey V. Fineberg. "Members are elected through a highly selective process that recognizes people who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health."

“Meharry Medical College is very proud to have among its ranks, a distinguished researcher like Dr. Hildreth,” said Wayne J. Riley, M.D., MBA, MPH, FACP. “While his research in HIV/AIDS is having a global impact, it’s his passion and commitment to meeting the health needs of the underserved and underrepresented that make Dr. Hildreth special. We are blessed to have him a part of the Meharry family.”

About Dr. Hildreth
Dr. Hildreth has spent a great portion of his research career investigating HIV. As Director for the Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, Dr. Hildreth is working on the development of an anti-HIV microbicide that will help stop the transmission of the virus. A magna cum laude graduate from Harvard University, Dr. Hildreth was selected as the first African American Rhodes Scholar from Arkansas in 1978. He enrolled at Oxford University in England, graduating with a Ph.D. in Immunology in 1982. He returned to the United States to attain his M.D. from Johns Hopkins and joined the faculty as Assistant Professor. In 2002, Dr. Hildreth became the first African American in the 125-year history at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to earn full Professorship with tenure in the basic sciences. Dr. Hildreth served Johns Hopkins for several years as the first Associate Dean for Graduate Studies. In July, 2005, Dr. Hildreth became Director of the National Institutes of Health Center for Health Disparities Research in HIV at Meharry Medical College.
About The Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is unique for its structure as both an honorific membership organization and an advisory organization. Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, IOM has become recognized as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on human health issues. With their election, members make a commitment to volunteer a significant amount of time as members of IOM committees, which engage in a broad range of studies on health policy issues. Studies completed in the past year include: RETOOLING FOR AN AGING AMERICA: BUILDING THE HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE, which calls for bold initiatives to ensure there are enough health care workers adequately trained to tend to the expanding population of older patients; CANCER CARE FOR THE WHOLE PATIENT: MEETING PSYCHOSOCIAL HEALTH NEEDS, a blueprint for how cancer care providers can address patients' psychological, emotional, and social needs in addition to their physical ailments; TREATMENT OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EVIDENCE, which found that research to determine the effectiveness of various treatments for PTSD is urgently needed in light of uncertainties about most therapies and growing patient needs; and KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE: A ROADMAP FOR THE NATION, which provides a vision and roadmap for improving how the nation uses scientific evidence to identify the most effective clinical services.
 
 
 
About Meharry Medical College
Meharry Medical College, a United Methodist Church affiliated school, is the nation’s largest private, independent, historically black academic health center dedicated solely to educating minority and other health professionals. The College is particularly well known for its uniquely nurturing, highly effective educational programs; emerging preeminence in health disparities research; culturally sensitive, evidence-based health services; and significant contribution to the diversity of the nation’s health professions workforce. Diverse Issues in Higher Education’s ranking of institutions annually lists Meharry as a leading national educator of African Americans with M.D. and D.D.S. degrees, and Ph.D. degrees in the biomedical sciences.

For more information contact: Janet Caldwell at 615.500.0632 or  jcaldwell@mmc.edu, Stacey Nickens at 615.775.8601 or snickens@mmc.edu,

Suzanne Kay Pittman at 615.260.5081

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