[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S6181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                   COMMENDING MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE

 Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, before I became a member of this 
body, I was privileged to serve as the president of University of 
Tennessee and as Secretary of Education under President George H.W. 
Bush. Therefore, I know how important it is for our nonprofits to make 
investments in our system of higher education. That is why I am pleased 
to report that Meharry Medical College in Nashville is poised to 
receive the single largest endowment gift in the college's 130-year 
history.
  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest philanthropic 
organization in America devoted exclusively to health care, has 
selected Meharry to receive a multimillion-dollar endowment and other 
funding to establish the Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy 
at Meharry Medical College to produce our country's next generation of 
health care policy experts. Meharry will be partnering with Vanderbilt 
University College of Arts and Science on this project.
  This gift is especially timely as the Nation grapples with economic 
challenges and millions of uninsured citizens amid growing bipartisan 
support for reforming the U.S. health care system. The new center aims 
to serve as a think tank for the pressing health care issues of the 
day; to increase the diversity of health policy scholars with doctors 
who are formally trained in sociology and economics; and to provide 
students and faculty with new curricula, research and academic 
offerings in health policy. The center seeks to reshape the future of 
America's health policies by creating a more inclusive pool of experts 
trained in health policy and allied disciplines.
  Meharry Medical College is the Nation's largest private, independent, 
historically Black academic health center. It produces over 20 percent 
of the Nation's African-American physicians and 33 percent of the 
Nation's African-American dentists. These health professionals take 
care of those most in need: the underserved in our rural and urban 
communities across the country.
  I know Meharry is pleased to be selected to receive this gift and 
produce scholars who will make a real impact on our health policy at 
this critical time. Though their graduates may serve the country, we 
Tennesseans are especially proud of Meharry and its many contributions 
to our State and the Nation.

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