Tulane SPHTM Alumnus Named President of Downstate Medical Center
The State University of New York Board of Trustees has appointed Dr. Wayne J. Riley as president of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Dr. Riley currently is currently a a clinical professor of medicine and adjunct professor of health policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Dr. Riley is a 1988 graduate of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine with a degree in health systems management.
In addition to serving as the president of SUNY Downstate, Dr. Riley will hold two faculty appointments – professor of internal medicine in the College of Medicine and professor of health policy and management in the School of Public Health – both with tenure. His appointment will begin April 3rd.
“Dr. Riley’s impressive credentials in medicine and academia make him ideally suited to serve the needs of Downstate Medical Center, one of the largest employers in Brooklyn and a world-class academic medical center for our future practitioners,” said SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman H. Carl McCall. “We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome him to SUNY, and we look forward to our work together.”
“I am humbled, honored, and thrilled to have been appointed to serve the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the greater Brooklyn and New York City communities,” said Dr. Riley. “I look forward with great anticipation to working with the Chancellor, the SUNY Board of Trustees, and the Downstate campus community to grow, enhance and build upon its many successes while also positioning it strategically to meet the many challenges of this unprecedented time of change in healthcare and health professions education. I am most grateful for this opportunity to serve.”
Dr. Riley is immediate past president and president emeritus of the American College of Physicians. An academic primary care general internist, he has 25 years of progressively increasing senior level management, policy, and leadership experiences in academic medicine, patient care, research administration, academic health center administration, health care management, health policy, biotechnology, the corporate sector, government service, advocacy, and organized medicine.
Prior to joining Vanderbilt University, he was the 10th president, chief executive officer, and professor of medicine at Meharry Medical College. He began his medical career at Baylor College of Medicine, where he completed residency training in internal medicine and rose from instructor of medicine to a corporate officer and member of Baylor’s senior management team as the vice president and vice dean for Health Affairs and Governmental Relations, and associate professor of Internal Medicine. Prior to pursuing a career in medicine, he served in three capacities in the Office of the Mayor, City of New Orleans, rising to executive assistant to the mayor for Intergovernmental Relations.
He is an elected member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences where he serves as chair.
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