Gynecology & Obstetrics
Open Access

PonJola Coney

Biography

Dr. Coney is the dean of the medical school and also holds the title of senior vice president for health affairs at Meharry. Despite her busy schedule, she continues to teach classes and maintain a small practice. "I still see patients every week," she told CBB. "I stopped delivering babies a couple of years ago. but I still work with infertility patients. I work with a lot of menopausal patients, and I still teach. And I probably won ever stop doing that." In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor activities, woodworking, and golf.In 2003 Coney returned to her alma mater at the University of Mississippi to deliver the commencement address for the Medical Center graduates that year. She is its first alumnus to head a U.S. medical school, and she is proud that it is a historically black institution she leads. "Meharry has a very distinguished history, in that it has for a long time had a single mission that it has adhered to--and thats training minority health professionals," she told CBB. "I wanted to be a part of doing that, which I think is critical in shaping the future of medicine, particularly for minority populations in this country. And this gave me an opportunity to do that, one that I didnt have in majority institutions. So thats really what attracted me here. And thats what keeps me here."

Research Interest

Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.