The dream of many Hispanic students to become medical doctors someday could remain just a dream, if congress eliminates the federal funds assigned to the Hispanic Center of Excellence (COE) in the Bronx.

Located at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Hispanic Center of Excellence is one of the 30 centers – out of 34 nationwide – that will be affected by the possible cuts in the federal budget during the 2007 fiscal year.

“When I graduate I’ll be the first doctor in my family. This program has helped me a lot in achieving this goal,” said Arcania Garcia, an 18-year-old Dominican student of the Summer Undergraduate Mentorship Program at the Hispanic Center of Excellence, which allows Hispanic students to get hands-on training under the supervision of a doctor in different medical situations for seven weeks.

Since 2001, these centers have helped 459,036 minority students nationwide. But according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 83 percent of them may not be able to continue their training if the federal funds are eliminated.

Dr. Nereida Correa, co-director of the Hispanic Center of Excellence, explained that the $350,000 that the center received over three years are utilized to increase the representation of minorities in the medical professions in various areas.

Correa hopes that the funds would encourage school age Hispanics to consider medical careers; help those who are interested in getting scholarships; pursue mentors for those that are already studying medicine; establish curricula in the medical field, including Hispanic subjects; and support Hispanic professors of medicine.

Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-Northern Queens and Eastern Bronx), together with 50 other members of Congress, got the federal funds extended until May 2007.

Crowley hopes that this gives congress more time to consider a greater allotment of funds in legislative hearings from the Health and Human Services congressional committee; in November.