President of Meharry Medical College Seeks Restoration of
$849 Million to FY 2008 Federal Healthcare Budgets
Dr. Riley Testifies Live Before the U.S. House Appropriations Committee Today at 1:00 p.m.

Washington, D.C. - Dr. Wayne J. Riley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Meharry Medical College, will testify before the House Appropriations Committee today at 1 p.m. CDT (2 p.m. EDT) at the Rayburn House Office Building, 3rd Floor – Room 2359 in Washington, D.C.  He will request that $849 million in federal funding be restored to various programs that support the advancement of minority healthcare across the country.  View the video of Dr. Riley's testimony at mms://media.mmc.edu/video/housesubcommittee_riley_032707.wmv.

“Over the next 10 years, we will need to be able to deliver more culturally relevant and culturally competent healthcare services,” Dr. Riley states in his official testimony.  “My recommendations focus on strengthening minority health professions schools, like my father’s alma mater, Meharry Medical College.  I’ve seen the importance of minority health professions schools at every stop of my professional career, including my medical school days at Morehouse School of Medicine.”

Dr. Riley’s official testimony, filed last week with the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education and Related Agencies, outlines the specifics of his funding request.

• $300 million for the Title VII Health Professions Training Programs

• $250 million for the National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities

• $169 million for the National Center for Research Resources Extramural Facilities Construction Program

• $65 million for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health

• $65 million for Department of Education’s Strengthening Historically Black Graduate Institutions Program

Funding for these programs, Dr. Riley asserted, will enable minority health professions training institutions throughout the country to continue developing highly qualified professionals, preparing them to meet the healthcare needs of the underserved.

He said:  “There is a well established link between health disparities and a lack of access to competent healthcare . . . Congress must be careful not to eliminate, paralyze or stifle the institutions and programs that have been proven to work.

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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.