Vanderbilt partners with Meharry on new center for health care policy
Posted 3/5/2009
Wayne J. Riley, president and CEO of Meharry Medical College; Angela L. Franklin, executive vice president and provost of Meharry; John R. Lumpkin, senior vice president and director of the health care group of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Richard McCarty, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt University.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation contributed a $9 million endowment for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College, it was announced March 5 during a news conference at Meharry. RWJF plans to supplement the initial award with additional funding to support operations for five years. Six new tenured or tenure-track faculty will be added to the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science.
“Every year, more children are facing a life of poor health because of childhood obesity, and racial and ethnic disparities continue to increase,” said Dr. John R. Lumpkin, senior vice president and director of the health care group at RWJF. “Today we are doing something about that. … Expanding our diversity will better prepare our nation to improve health and health care for every American.”
The center will offer both a fellowship program and a certificate program. Meharry and Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science will jointly recruit over five years 19 Ph.D. students in sociology and economics interested in pursuing careers in health policy research. The students will be formally admitted to Vanderbilt’s graduate school and will be considered fellows of the new center. In addition, a certificate program will be established for Meharry medical, dental, public health and biomedical science students. The certificate program will be led by Meharry faculty, but will be developed and taught by faculty from both institutions.
The center will establish a health policy scholars-in-residence program at Meharry and will provide support for student- and faculty-led research, seminars and symposia to inform various policy debates.
“When the economy turns down, the people at the bottom of the health care system that need help so desperately are even more dramatically affected than in normal economic times,” said Richard McCarty, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Vanderbilt. “I am confident that the Ph.Ds who are trained in these next several years (at the new center) will go on to change the way health care is delivered with a great sensitivity to cultural and social context.
“It is an honor to be a partner with Meharry on this initiative, and I pledge … that we will be superb partners.”
With the support of the RWJF and the Meharry center, Vanderbilt will recruit two tenured and one tenure-track sociologist of health policy, along with one tenured and two tenure-track economists.
“This is a major commitment on the part of the College of Arts and Science to diversity in the health policy arena, and we are honored to partner with our colleagues at Meharry on this initiative with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,” said Carolyn Dever, dean of the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science.
Dr. Wayne J. Riley, president and CEO of Meharry Medical College, noted the new initiative builds on the decade-long Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, which has resulted in joint research and has assisted in establishing joint and shared residencies in a number of medical specialties.
“We will lead this effort under the auspices of the RWJF in strong collaboration with the Vanderbilt University College of Arts and Science. We are excited to extend our relationship with (Vanderbilt) in this new and exciting way.”
The first students are expected to enter the program in 2010.
Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu
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