News
April 8, 2008
Media Contact:
Toni Baker
Director of Media Relations
Medical College of Georgia
706-721-4421
tbaker@mcg.edu
Dean searches under way for MCG medical school expansion campuses
The Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine is undertaking searches for two new leaders for a statewide initiative to expand medical education, according to Dr. D. Douglas Miller, dean.
Search committees have been named to help identify an assistant dean for the Southeast Georgia Clinical Campus based at St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System in Savannah for third- and fourth-year medical students as well as a dean for the Athens branch campus, a four-year campus being developed in partnership with the University of Georgia.
“These new deans will help develop the new campuses, be responsible for their daily operation and help plan their future,” Dr. Miller said. “We are looking for visionary and strategic leaders who will optimize the significant opportunities this statewide expansion initiative provides.
“In Athens, there is opportunity to bring together the substantial medical education and biomedical research expertise of MCG with the strength of biomedical research and public health education at UGA,” he said. “The Athens campus also will tap into the enthusiasm and skill of the Athens and Gainesville medical communities. In the Savannah region, there is significant excitement and ability to help educate Georgia’s future physicians. We are extremely fortunate to find such support really throughout our state, with physicians, many of whom are our graduates, and hospitals willing to help. ”
“We are excited to move forward with identifying a campus dean who can solidify the significant interests in southeast Georgia to help educate future physicians,” said Paul P. Hinchey, president and CEO of St. Joseph's/Candler.
“This is a vital search to find an innovative and strategic campus dean to provide leadership in the development of the UGA partnership with the Medical College of Georgia to educate physicians at the University of Georgia, enhance collaborative research and improve health care in Georgia,” said Dr. Arnett C. Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of the University of Georgia in Athens and co-chair of the Athens branch campus search committee.
Interviews for the Athens branch campus dean should begin this spring with a selection by the fall, Dr. Miller said. The Athens campus dean will report to Dr. Miller and have accountability to Dr. Mace.
The first round of interviews for the assistant dean in Savannah is complete, said Dr. Linda Boyd, associate dean for regional medical campuses and chair of the search committee. The committee plans to make a recommendation to Dean Miller in May and bring the new dean on board this summer. The assistant dean will report to Dr. Boyd, as does Dr. Iqbal Khan, assistant dean of the Southwest Georgia Clinical Campus based at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany.
“There are many small, medically underserved communities in the southeastern part of our state,” said Dr. Boyd. “We need someone as assistant dean who is very adept at working with the physician community, in motivating and energizing them to teach our students in their offices.” The MCG School of Medicine sent about 36 students to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah last year and three students per month are now doing clinical rotations at St. Joseph’s/Candler, said Dr. Boyd. She expects the student numbers at St. Joseph’s/Candler to increase significantly this summer and for students to begin rotations in Brunswick.
“Last May we announced an affiliation with Savannah’s St. Joseph's/Candler Health System that we hope will lead to a residential clinical campus for medical students in Savannah,” Dr. Boyd said. “Other community hospitals, notably Southeast Georgia Health System in Brunswick, have expressed interest in partnering with us as well to help meet this important statewide need.”
Search committee members for the Athens branch campus include Dr. T. Andrew (Andy) Albritton, associate dean for curriculum, MCG School of Medicine; Dr. Sally S. Atherton, chair, Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, MCG School of Medicine; Dr. Linda Boyd, associate dean for regional campus development, MCG School of Medicine; Peter F. Buckley, chair, Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, MCG School of Medicine and Dr. R. William Caldwell, chair, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, MCG School of Medicine. Also, Dr. Eric Dahl, associate dean, UGA College of Public Health; Dr. Mark H. Ebell Sr., vice president, UGA Office of Academic Affairs; Dr. Mark F. Ellison, MCG graduate and Athens urologist; Dr. Ruth-Marie E. Fincher, vice dean for academic affairs, MCG School of Medicine; Dr. Robert S. Galen, associate dean, UGA College of Public Health; Dr. Vadivel Ganapathy, chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, MCG School of Medicine; Dr. R. Clinton Webb, chair, Department of Physiology, MCG School of Medicine; and Dr. Geoffrey H. Young, associate dean for admissions, MCG School of Medicine.
The search committee for assistant dean of the Southeast Georgia Clinical Campus includes Dr. Fincher; Dr. Albritton; Dr. Khan; Erin Mundy, medical clerkship coordinator, for Area Health Education Centers and MCG School of Medicine; Dr. Young; Dr. Lisa Leggio, MCG School of Medicine pediatric clerkship director; Dr. James Scott, vice president of medical affairs, St. Joseph's/Candler Health System, Savannah; and Dr. Dan DeLoach, MCG alumnus in private practice in Savannah.
The MCG School of Medicine, the state’s only public medical school, is responding to the state’s need for more physicians by planning to expand its class size 60 percent - from 190 to 300 students - as early as 2017, Dr. Miller said. The school is considering how best to expand to 200 in the fall 2009 and grow the class to 240 in new facilities at the main campus in Augusta within 10 years, Dr. Miller said. With 240 students on the Augusta campus, the city would have more medical students per capita than any city in the nation. To help manage the extensive clinical experiences required for this growing number of medical students, MCG is expanding its clinical campus for third- and fourth-year students in southwest Georgia and establishing the southeast Georgia campus. Approximately 60 students will be educated at the two clinical campuses by 2015. An initial class size of 40 students, enrolled no later than fall 2010, is planned for the Athens branch campus. That class size should grow to 60 students by 2017, Dr. Miller said.