Principal Speaker- 2017

Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD

President, Morehouse School of Medicine

Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice is the sixth president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and the first woman to lead a free-standing medical institution. She is a renowned infertility specialist and researcher, also serving as dean of MSM and has previously served as executive vice president of the institution in 2011. An internationally distinguished reproductive endocrinologist and a dedicated philanthropist, Dr. Montgomery Rice strongly believes in utilizing her leadership role to give back to the community, particularly to advance the educational opportunities available to underrepresented youth and promote healthcare equity.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Montgomery Rice has served as dean of the School of Medicine and senior vice president of health affairs at Meharry Medical College. While there, she founded and directed 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.

Her dedication to eliminating disparities in healthcare equality is apparent in her memberships in many organizations and boards including the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and Office of Research on Women’s Health/National Institutes of Health (NIH) advisory councils and Society for Women’s Health Research board. Having received numerous accolades, including the National Coalition of 100 Black Women- Women of Impact and YWCO – Women of Achievement awards, Dr. Montgomery Rice has turned a passion for equality into her purpose in the medical community.  

Dr. Montgomery Rice was born in Macon, GA where she lived with three sisters and her hardworking, single mother. After suffering from and overcoming Osteomyelitis (OM), she began excelling in school and was eventually awards academic scholarships to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology. Following her undergraduate career, she received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency training at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Montgomery Rice began her career in medicine in 1993 at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, Henry Ford Medical Center and Meharry Medical College. She returned to Georgie in 2011 to take a role as the dean and executive vice president of Morehouse School of Medicine prior to taking on her current role as president of the institution. Under Dr. Montgomery Rice’s leadership, the school embraces a new vision to lead the creation and advancement of health equity. She has nearly double the MD class size and secured more than $70 million in institution funding, capital projects and scholarships to further diversify Georgia’s healthcare professionals.

Dr. Montgomery Rice has been married to her fellow Georgia Institute of Technology alumnus, Melvin Rice, Jr., for 25 years. They have two children, Jayne, an entering medical student at Harvard Medical School, and Melvin, a senior at Ringling College of Art and Design. 

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