Georgia Health Sciences University Fact Sheet
President: Dr. Ricardo Azziz
1120 Fifteenth Street
Augusta, GA 30912
- Main: 706-721-0211
- Admissions: 706-721-2725
- Financial Aid: 706-721-4901
- Compliance, Ethics, and Reporting Hotline: 800-576-6623
Institution Profile
The mission of Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU), is to discover, disseminate, and apply knowledge to improve health and reduce the burden of illness on society.
In realizing its mission, Georgia Health Sciences University, a research university, is committed to serving the people of Georgia, the nation, and the world by: (1) Preparing the health professional workforce of the future; (2) Conducting research through programs that create, disseminate, and apply new knowledge relevant to human health; (3) Providing exceptional, innovative, patient-centered health care services; and (4) Contributing to the economic development and well-being of the State of Georgia through integrated programs in education, research, and clinical care.
GHSU has nearly 2,500 students in five colleges: College of Allied Health Sciences, College of Dental Medicine, College of Graduate Studies, Medical College of Georgia and College of Nursing. Students come from most of Georgia’s 159 counties. Students from other states and foreign countries comprise approximately 2 percent of GHSU’s student body. The university also provides postgraduate specialty training, such as orthodontics and family medicine residency programs, to nearly 500 dentists and physicians.
The university offers 68 degrees and majors and uses satellite campuses, distance-learning, the Internet and other innovative techniques to ensure a statewide reach.
The university plans further statewide expansion with a goal of enrolling 1,200 medical students on campuses in Augusta, Athens, Savannah, Rome, Brunswick and Albany by 2020, an increase of approximately 60 percent, to address the critical need for more physicians in Georgia. GHSU also is expanding the state of Georgia’s only dental school from 63 to 100 students per class by 2016, and expanding residency positions for specialty training from 44 to 72 to meet the state’s need for dentists. Increases will put both schools among the largest of their type in the nation.
GHSU’s research efforts focus on diseases that have the greatest impact on Georgians: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes/obesity, infection/inflammation and neurological disease.
The university’s clinical facilities include MCGHealth Medical Center, the MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center, MCG Health Medical Office Building and the Critical Care Center. Recent campus additions include the Health Sciences Building, housing the Colleges of Allied Health Sciences and Nursing and new facilities for cancer research and treatment. A new College of Dental Medicine, which will enhance the university’s ability to educate more dentists for the state, will be completed this summer and a new Education Commons, which will provide a larger home for the Medical College of Georgia as well as shared educational space with the College of Dental Medicine, is being designed.
GHSU, including its clinical operations, has an $2.1 billion annual economic impact.