Dear Medical College of Georgia Friends,
Officials from Peach State Health Plan help us welcome our newest Peach State Scholars
This time last week, I was amongst a large and proud crowd of supporters in the lobby of our J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Education Commons, welcoming our 12 newest Peach State Scholars into our 3+ Primary Care Pathway Program at our annual Pinning Ceremony. As you all well know by now, these students finish medical school in three years, then enter directly into a Georgia-based primary care residency program and commit to service in a rural or underserved area of our state. These students receive scholarships that cover their medical school tuition, in exchange for their service. I can’t help but think that Dr. Harrison himself – who grew up on a farm in tiny Kite, Georgia, came to MCG and became a renown vascular surgeon who ultimately gave his alma mater one of its largest ever philanthropic gifts – had to be smiling down on these students for the commitments they have made to serve areas in our state like the one he grew up in.
We welcomed our first cohort of Peach State Scholars in 2021 with a generous initial $5.2 million donation from Peach State Health Plan. That was matched by Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly, who have also designated an additional $8.7 million for the program. And this January, Peach State announced another $2.2 million commitment to further expand the 3+ Primary Care Pathway, and to launch a similar loan forgiveness program for Dental College of Georgia students who commit to five years of practice in rural and underserved areas. It was an honor to be joined by these scholars and their families, as well as Wade Rakes, chief growth officer for Centene Corporation (Peach State is a subsidiary of theirs); Dr. James Richardson, an emergency medicine physician who serves as Peach State’s chief medical officer; Peach State President Clyde White; and their VP of Government Relations, Jason Skipper. Also, on hand were some of our amazing donors who have generously supported our 3+ program like Dr. George Snelling, a retired dentist and local philanthropist; Jim Kelly, founder and general counsel for the Georgia Community Foundation; as well as Representative Brian Prince, who no doubt played an integral part in securing us funding from the state.
The 2024 cohort of scholars is our fourth and the largest one ever
We have graduated two cohorts of Peach State Scholars, with the third set to graduate in May with the Class of 2025. This group, our fourth, represents the largest group of students from one class to be selected for the program. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and from areas in our state that are big and that are small. They all want to pursue a variety of primary care fields. And for the first time ever, several of them will do their clinical training at our regional clinical campuses in Rome and Albany and then train at residency programs at hospitals that serve as our teaching partners there, like the family medicine residency programs at Phoebe Putney in Albany and at Atrium Health Floyd in Rome, as well as the internal medicine residency program Advent Health Redmond, also in Rome. This year’s scholars, their hometowns and their chosen specialties are:
- Caleb Bazal, of Moultrie, Georgia, internal medicine
- Hermela Beyene, of Johns Creek, Georgia, pediatrics
- Silas Howerton, of Alpharetta, Georgia, general surgery
- David Kotter, of Lilburn, Georgia, psychiatry
- Michael McGrath, of Augusta, Georgia, internal medicine
- Carrington Moore, of Suwanee, Georgia, family medicine
- Sweta Munagapati, of Cumming, Georgia, general surgery
- Kaley Reid, of Armuchee, Georgia, family medicine
- Avni Sawant, of Marietta, Georgia, family medicine
- Dhruti Trivedi, of McDonough, Georgia, internal medicine
- Ayanna Turner, of Shiloh, Georgia, family medicine
- Madison White, of Douglasville, Georgia, obstetrics and gynecology
My congratulations to all of you and my sincere thanks for your commitment to the people of Georgia who need you most.
Department of Artificial Intelligence and Health is MCG’s 24th
Now for something that is truly hot off the press. We just got word this week that our request to establish our 24th MCG department, which will be called the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Health, has been approved. I don’t think that any of us would argue that AI (I prefer the term “Augmented Intelligence”) is revolutionizing health care by making it more efficient, accurate and personalized – and its impact is only growing. It’s doing things like helping improve access to health care, mitigating workforce shortages, further personalizing the medicine we can deliver, improving diagnostics and improving public health by quickly analyzing data, tracking outbreaks and even developing strategies to prevent public health crises.
This new department will allow us to provide specialized education that blends AI with health care applications, promote AI literacy and prepare students to become leaders in this emerging field. There are also significant funding opportunities from government agencies, private organizations, and industry partners when it comes to AI technologies, which has the added bonus of increasing our research portfolio and helping move us closer toward Top 60 in NIH funding. Adding this expertise will also help spur economic growth and further position AU and MCG as a leader in a high-growth industry, attracting talent, investment and partnerships.
The first step will be a national search for our inaugural chair, who will then start recruiting approximately 7-10 faculty over the next three years. We expect that some of our current faculty may have joint appointments. We are also currently renovating some space for this new department on the first floor of the CJ Building (Pavilion 3).
Associate Vice Chancellor of Healthcare Education visits campus
This new department and the collaborations it will foster will only further the impact of the discoveries made by you all and how they change the delivery of health care across the world. Last week also brought an opportunity to show some of that off when Dr. Shawn Little, the University System of Georgia’s new associate vice chancellor of healthcare education, visited campus. Dr. Little may be new to her position with the USG, but she is no stranger to health care or academics. She has been a nurse for more than three decades and served as campus president of the Atlanta branch of Chamberlain University, the largest nursing school in the country; then as that university’s associate dean of faculty and dean of academic affairs. She spent time over three days meeting with our colleagues in the Colleges of Allied Health Sciences and Nursing, the School of Public Health, The Graduate School, and the Dental College of Georgia. It was my privilege to introduce her to MCG experts from research, academic affairs, educational simulation, the Georgia Cancer Center, and the Center for Telehealth. Thank you to those of you who made time to help further demonstrate the importance of the work being done here.
Dr. Jay Dennis, nephrologist who opened first dialysis unit in Georgia here at MCG, passes away
As we close today, I want to share with those of you who may not yet know that our friend and colleague Dr. Jay Dennis, a nephrologist who served on our faculty from 1963 until his retirement, passed away on August 1. Dr. Dennis was the very first nephrology fellow at MCG, and after joining the faculty, he helped open the state of Georgia’s first dialysis unit right here. Those of us that knew him would tell you that he never stopped thinking of the people he was privileged to care for. Understanding what a strain dialysis put on patients and their families, he worked tirelessly to establish units in Metter, Georgia and at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Dublin, Georgia. But to him, even that wasn’t enough. He also worked with one of his patients to introduce home hemodialysis. Well into his retirement, he continued to attend and participate in grand rounds and journal club and he was always “on-call” throughout the CSRA, available to anyone who needed his wisdom and/or his assistance. He truly was one of the most compassionate and committed physicians I have ever had the honor of knowing.
His dedication to his profession and his patients was only overshadowed by his devotion to his family – his wife of 53 years, Mary Lou, his six sons and 12 grandchildren. Dr. Dennis’ son Christopher, a 2002 MCG graduate who is an internist in Boston, was actually one of my very first research assistants. Dr. Dennis always thanked me for that when we ran into each other. I hope his entire family finds comfort in knowing that his impact will be remembered here for many years to come. Our thoughts are with them all during this difficult time.
My best to you all,
David C. Hess, MD
Dean, Medical College of Georgia
Upcoming Events
August 24– MCG’s Got Talent, 7pm, Maxwell Theater
September 20 – MCG Faculty Senate Meeting, noon, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium
November 15 – Annual Body Donor Memorial Service, 1pm, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium
