Dr. Peterson Diversity Symposium: Introduction of Keynote Speaker Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice Friday, Sept. 5, 2014, Hotel Ballroom It is my pleasure to introduce one of Georgia Tech’s own to you today. Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice came to Morehouse in 2011 and served as the School of Medicine’s dean and executive vice president. On July 1st, she became the sixth president of Morehouse School of Medicine, and the first woman to lead the freestanding medical institution. She continues to serve as the School of Medicine’s dean.

But before this Georgia native rose to that position, she earned a chemistry degree at Georgia Tech in 1983. We like to think that we gave her a running start on the professional success that she’s enjoyed, but with her drive, intelligence and heart for service, she was destined for great things before she ever left her hometown of Macon to come to us.

Like many of our students do, Dr. Montgomery Rice took part in our co-op program. Procter & Gamble liked her potential so much that it offered her a job while she was still a junior here. Now those of you who know Dr. Montgomery Rice understand that she’s what is known as a “people person.” She tells a story about coming to an epiphany one day about her future while she was taking temperature readings from a broiler. Wearing a lab coat and thick protective goggles, she was repeatedly bending down and standing up as she collected detergent samples. Slush from the floor splashed on her lab coat and clothes.

Catching a glimpse of herself from a reflection on the steel broiler, she realized that life in a lab, which is by nature often isolating and project-driven, would limit her opportunities to interact with other people. Her outgoing personality, natural warmth, and gift for mentoring couldn’t blossom if confined in a laboratory. She eventually decided not to take Procter & Gamble’s offer and instead would apply to medical school.

As a prelude, she applied and was accepted to a Harvard University summer program for aspiring minority medical students. While she was there in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she immersed herself in her studies and polished her medical school application. She returned to Atlanta when the program ended and finished her degree work at Georgia Tech. Several medical schools were courting her, but she chose to return to Harvard, where she went on to receive her medical degree. From that point, she completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at School of Medicine in Atlanta and her fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit. She also completed the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Dr. Montgomery Rice’s list of accomplishments is long, so I’ll just mention a few. She is the founder and former director of the Center for Women's Health Research at in Nashville, Tenn., where she also served as dean of the School of Medicine and senior vice president of health affairs. The Center for Women's Health Research is one of the nation's first research centers devoted to studying diseases that disproportionately impact women of color. Prior to joining Meharry Medical College, Dr. Montgomery Rice held numerous administrative and faculty appointments at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

She has dedicated her professional life to health-care research, preventive care, and mentoring. Because of her unique background and capacity for service, she has been invited to serve on more than a dozen national boards and committees, including the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Institute of Minority Health and Disparities and Office of Women's Health/National Institutes of Health (NIH) council; the Society for Women's Health Research board and the executive committee; the March of Dimes board; and the National AIDS Fund board of trustees.

Her excellence has been further recognized by such awards as the National Coalition of 100 Black Women — Women of Impact (2014); YWCA — Women of Achievement, both here in Atlanta and also in Nashville; National Medical Association's President's Citation Award; American Medical Women's Association Elizabeth Blackwell Medal; Working Mother Media Multicultural Women's Legacy Award; Maternal Infant Health Outreach Program Award; and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW) Mentorship Award, among others.

With regret, I’m going to have to stop here. Unfortunately, to borrow a cliché, I’ve got a plane to catch. Yes, literally. But it is my great pleasure to leave you in the best of hands. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice.