Meharry Medical College Celebrates 132nd Commencement

President and CEO of CARE USA Will Deliver Keynote Address

Nashville, Tenn – The 132nd Commencement Ceremony of Meharry Medical College will be held on Saturday, May 19, at Tennessee State University’s Gentry Auditorium at 2:00pm.

President and CEO of CARE USA, Dr. Helene D. Gayle will receive an Honorary Doctorate from Meharry Medical College and will be the keynote speaker for this year’s commencement ceremony. “We are honored to have Dr. Gayle join usfor commencement. This is always an exciting time of year for Meharry when we deliver culturally relevant and culturally competent physicians, dentists, public health experts and biomedical scientists into the global healthcare workforce,” said Dr. Wayne J. Riley, president and CEO of Meharry Medical College.

Leading the world’s premier international relief and development organization, Dr. Gayle has become a champion for public health and a strong advocate for reducing and eventually ending extreme poverty.  For twenty years, Dr. Gayle worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a variety of positions, from staff epidemiologist to director for the National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention. Prior to assuming her current position, she was director of the HIV, TB and Reproductive Health Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Named on of Wall Street Journal’s “50 Top Women to Watch,” Dr. Gayle’s board affiliations consist of the Institute of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations. She received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s in public health from John Hopkins University and is a graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University. 

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Meharry Medical College is the nation’s largest private, independent historically black institution 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. Black 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.