Three years ago, in November 2006, Meharry Medical College announced that Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, FACP, had been tapped as the 10th president of the college, a unique 170 year-old institution that he describes as a "national treasure."

 

Riley, who assumed his post on January 1, 2007, brought with him a keen sense of the legacy and mission that defines Meharry as a leader on the national healthcare stage. He brought a broad range of experience in academic medicine, patient care and administration to the post.

 

Over the last 36 months since his arrival in Nashville, Riley has implemented a number of changes tied to his goal of raising Meharry's profile, both by building on the success of the last 20 years of the school's history and focusing on rebuilding and strengthening its infrastructure.

 

Meharry Medical College was established in 1876 when the Methodist Church and Samuel Meharry combined assets to establish a healing arts program to teach former slaves to care for neglected peers. It remains a unique private institution committed to the education, health and healthcare needs of underserved populations. More than 76 percent of Meharry's graduates choose to practice in underserved communities.

 

"Our stock in trade," Riley said, "is to take care of the 'least of these,' those who rely on us to cushion the fall of the medically underserved. We remain dedicated to our vision of eliminating healthcare disparities through education, research and patient care."

 

The president's move to Nashville was actually a return to the place of his birth. Riley's first arrival in Nashville was when his father was a medical student at the institution his son now leads. Young Riley grew up in New Orleans, where his father and mother moved to raise their family of five children, four of whom have chosen careers in medicine.

 

Riley didn't go directly into medicine after earning his bachelor's degree in anthropology from Yale University. Instead, he served for five years on the staff of New Orleans' legendary Mayor "Dutch" Morial, rising at age 26 to be executive assistant for Intergovernmental Relations, the city's youngest person to serve in that post.

 

Asked if he misses "politics," Riley said, "My training in government service is germane to what I am doing now. It taught me about the complexity of governing and that leading is tough … and very fulfilling."

 

He earned a Master of Public Health degree in health systems management from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, followed by his medical degree from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta before receiving an Executive MBA from Rice University's Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.

 

In addition to a clinical medical practice in a 500-bed public hospital in Houston and teaching assignments at Baylor College of Medicine's internal medicine house staff, Riley assisted the chief of medicine at Baylor in coordinating clinical affairs, faculty productivity and general management oversight of the medical service.

 

Riley came to Meharry from Houston where he held the position of vice president and vice dean for health affairs and governmental relations at Baylor College of Medicine. At Baylor, among other responsibilities, he spearheaded the development of a joint MD/JD degree program with the University of Houston Law Center.

 

Recently, Riley was among the 150 physicians invited to the White House by President Obama to show support for healthcare reform during a Rose Garden ceremony. Although he received the invitation while at a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, and flew directly to Washington, he said the excitement and energy surrounding the White House visit overcame any jetlag that such long distance travel might normally have engendered.

 

At Meharry, despite constricted resources, Riley is planning steps that will be "broad, bold and expansive" in terms of growth and service, reaching out to attract a diverse student body.

 

"We have always been progressive," he added, pointing out that the school enrolled its first white student in 1957. As proponents of integration, "we had to walk the talk ourselves."

 

Applications to Meharry have grown dramatically in recent years, Riley observed. "Last year we had 4,000 applicants for the 150 slots in the medical school and 2,400 applicants for the 55 slots in the dental school," he said.

 

"We are continuing to embrace training to meet the needs of the underserved and are now focusing on upgrading the college's infrastructure with significant additions to the library facilities. We have a $1 million grant to upgrade Hulda Lyttle Hall, a former dormitory when Meharry had a nursing school, which will now serve various administrative needs, and a commitment of $9 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to start a national health policy center," he commented.

 

"This is a great job. I can't wait to get to work in the morning! It is the honor of a lifetime to be one of the 10 people who have led this school over the last 170 years," he enthused.

 

Riley sees a great future in healthcare for students who … like himself … come to medicine after two or three other careers. Their broader viewpoint brings extensive experience in other disciplines to the practice of medicine.

 

Riley and his wife are a two-physician family. Charlene M. Dewey, MD, is a member of the faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The Rileys have two young daughters who have delighted in the move to Nashville, and are, frankly, hoping for lots of snow this winter — a real rarity when the family lived in Houston.

 

An avid reader, Riley is living proof of Harry Truman's statement, "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." Riley's current list includes Senator Kennedy's memoir True Compass, Healthcare Guaranteed by Ezekiel Emmanuel, and Outliers, The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.

 

A recent airport encounter with Senator  Bill Frist, who Riley calls a "remarkable supporter  of Meharry in many, many ways," has added a copy of the Senator's just released book, A Heart to Serve, to the stack.