With its funding set to expire next month, a program that trains Hispanic doctors may get a reprieve thanks to two U.S. legislators who were successful in pushing for a short-term extension of grants.

Their action allows 34 programs participating in the federally funded Centers of Excellence and Health Career Opportunity Program to apply for additional grant

through Sept. 30. 

Despite the temporary extension, some programs like The Hispanic Center of Excellence at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., remain uncertain about their long-term future. The Office of Management and Budget, a federal department that assists the Bush administration in preparation of the federal budget, told the staff that they would not receive the three years of funding that they had been promised because the services they offered were considered “ineffective.” (See “On Life Support” at  www.diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_6386.shtml)

The five-year-old Hispanic Center of Excellence at Einstein Medical Center was created to encourage and support more Latinos entering the medical profession. Currently, the Center serves about 800 students each year. 

The Hispanic Center of Excellence is not the only program that has been left in limbo. Over the past two fiscal years, Congress has severely cut funding for the overall Centers of Excellence grant program. That move effectively zeroed out almost all federal money available to the majority of academic institutions that have similar programs.

While the Centers of Excellence grant program recipients do not all cater exclusively to Hispanic students, all of the programs in some way seek to encourage minority students to pursue advanced degrees in the medical profession.

Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y. and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., recently announced a rule change on the federal level that now allows these programs to continue to apply for emergency grant money from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies beyond the looming May 31 deadline. It is possible that each Center that applies is denied funding, but Rep. Crowley said that he remains hopeful that all 34 of the Centers currently operating will receive short-term and ultimately permanent funding from the federal government to keep their programs active.