The energy was palpable at SGMC Health, formerly known as South Georgia Medical Center, on Thursday, July 18, when leaders from across the state of Georgia came together to celebrate a monumental event: the grand opening of Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) and SGMC Health’s clinical campus and simulation lab. This dynamic partnership between MUSM and SGMC Health promises to revolutionize medical education and healthcare delivery in the region.
With an eye toward the future, SGMC Health President and CEO Ronald E. Dean praised the vision, passion, and dedication of the SGMC Health medical staff and system board of directors for bringing this transformative collaboration to life. “Excellence is intentional, not by chance. And our SGMC Health team of employees, physicians, and volunteers is unwavering in our commitment to excellence in all we do for those we serve,” Dean declared. “Creating access to needed healthcare is often about having an adequate number of physicians, and like other communities across the region, state, and nation, SGMC Health competes for top physician talent. The need for more well-trained physicians continues to grow. Our partnership with Mercer University School of Medicine is about developing a more robust pipeline of available physicians who will choose to train in South Georgia and hopefully remain in South Georgia.”
The School of Medicine’s Valdosta campus features a dedicated Medical Education unit within SGMC Health Main, located at 2501 N. Patterson St. The site offers all required clerkships and electives of Year 3, as well as the sub-internship, elective, and required elective rotations for Year 4 of the M.D. program. SGMC Health has a 15-county service area, much of which is rural, so this affiliation will advance the School of Medicine’s mission by adding more rural clinical experiences to the clerkship and post-clerkship phases. The first group of 17 third-year medical students began clinical rotations last week.
“We are unwaveringly committed to our mission to serve rural Georgia. We are here to serve this state in areas of need and are deeply honored to have SGMC Health as our partner,” said Jean Sumner, MD, FACP, Dean of MUSM. “There’s a spirit of concern and care in this hospital that gives our students the opportunity to see high-quality healthcare in a rural community.”
This newest clinical campus is further evidence of the School of Medicine’s commitment to its mission to improve access to health care for rural and underserved areas of the state by educating physicians. Mercer only admits Georgia residents and prioritizes students from rural areas. Opening a clinical site in Valdosta expands the school’s reach to a critical medically underserved region. In addition to SGMC Health, students will rotate through clerkships at other regional facilities.
In addition to Dean and Sumner, those who spoke at the event included Joseph Hayes, MD, associate dean of the Valdosta campus, and Sam Allen, chair of SGMC Health’s board of directors.
Dr. Hayes recognized the clinical clerkship directors who will guide curriculum and rotations which include: Meghan Gallagher, DO (Internal Medicine); Brian Griner, MD (Pediatrics); Anthony Johnson, MD (Family Medicine); Paresh Thanki, MD (Psychiatry); Ene Grace Morgan, MD (OBGYN); and James Davis, MD (Surgery).
The event included guided tours and demonstrations in the newly constructed medical simulation center, which will allow medical practice activities, including standardized patient encounters, to be provided on-site. This simulation center will also offer interdisciplinary training sessions in partnership with health professions programs at nearby Valdosta State University.
About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah, Columbus, and Valdosta)
Mercer University’s School of Medicine was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, more than 60 percent of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80 percent are practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-based medical education program that provides early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an awareness of the place of the basic medical sciences in medical practice. The School opened additional four-year M.D. campuses in Savannah in 2008 and in Columbus in 2021, and a clinical campus in Valdosta in 2024. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School’s primary teaching hospitals: Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center and Piedmont Macon Medical Center in Macon; Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah; Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus; and SGMC Health in Valdosta. The School also offers master’s degrees in preclinical sciences and family therapy and Ph.D.’s in biomedical sciences and rural health sciences.
About SGMC Health
SGMC Health is the most comprehensive medical system in South Georgia. Supported by a workforce of more than 3,100 who care for 400,000 patients annually across 15 counties, SGMC operates 4 hospitals (Main, Smith Northview, Berrien, and Lanier), and a network of primary care and specialty locations. Service lines with regional prominence include heart and vascular, stroke, trauma, cancer, orthopedics, surgery, and women and infants. SGMC Health’s system yields an annual economic impact of $1 billion and results in 10,000 jobs throughout the communities it serves. SGMC Health is dedicated to the continued development of its workforce, programs, services, and facilities to fulfill its mission of improving the lives of all it serves.
