Dear Medical College of Georgia Friends,

Research External Advisory Committee’s three-day visit to campus will provide valuable insight

A top strategic priority of this university and of our medical school is to be ranked among the top 60 in National Institutes of Health funding. I certainly know that MCG is already home to some of the most talented and productive research faculty in the country. As you have heard me say many times – MCG punches well above its weight. We already know to get to top 60 we, at minimum, need more research faculty and updated and new facilities. But what else? This week, we hosted our first Research External Advisory Committee on campus and asked them to take a deep dive into our research enterprise and help us figure the best path forward. This group of experts was thoughtfully assembled by Dr. David Stepp, our associate dean for research, and included Dr. Lisa Cassis, vice president for research at the University of Kentucky who oversaw the opening of a new $265 million research building there; Dr. David Gutterman, senior associate director emeritus of the Cardiovascular Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Dr. James Weyhenmeyer, immediate past vice president of research and economic development at Auburn, under whose leadership that university ranked among the top 11% of U.S. research institutions.  They looked at our research efforts from top to bottom – from our hiring practices to the ways we use and get support from information technology. They met with President Keen and other university leadership, as well as clinical and basic science faculty and graduate students to get their input. I look forward to hearing their recommendations in the coming months.

I must also thank Dr. Stepp here, for his guidance and commitment to this goal; as well as Aleesha Waller, project coordinator for our MD/PhD program and Dr. Stepp’s right hand, and Tomika Jordan, administrative assistant in the Dean’s Office, for their flawless execution of a complicated and packed schedule. We couldn’t have done this without them.

Several faculty and PhD students receive awards at American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions

Bragging about our incredible faculty is one of my favorite things to do as dean, so I’m glad to share with you this week that several of our researchers attended the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions in Chicago last week. I’m not 100 percent certain, but MCG faculty may have received more awards than any other institution at the meeting. If not, it was really close. Those recognized included Dr. Jennifer Sullivan, who serves as dean of The Graduate School and interim provost, and is a professor in our Department of Physiology. Dr. Sullivan received the Harriet Dustan Award, which recognizes female investigators who have made outstanding contributions in hypertension and honors the former president of the AHA who also was founding editor-in-chief of Hypertension. Other awardees were:

• Ishara MG Menik, a PhD student in the lab of Dr. Eric Belin de Chantemele at the Vascular Biology Center, and Adam Jones, a PhD student in Dr. Daria Ilatovskaya’s lab in the Department of Physiology, who both received Trainee Onsite Poster Awards
• Beryl Khakina, a PhD student in Dr. Belin de Chantemele’s lab, who received the Award for Support of Underrepresented Minorities
• Dr. Mona Elgazzaz, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jessica Faulkner’s lab in the Department of Physiology, who received the New Investigator Award, which is supported by the Council on Hypertension and the Council on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease; and
• Dr. Yoichi Ono, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Belin de Chantemele’s lab, who received a Hypertension New Investigator Travel Award.

Congratulations and thank you all for your important contributions to a better understanding of this silent killer.

Georgia Cancer Center research addressing colorectal cancer disparities

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in our nation, killing more than 600,000 Americans each year. It’s second only to heart disease. We certainly know that access to ongoing preventive care and screenings, like mammograms and colonoscopies, are key to changing those alarming statistics. Recent research by a team that included Drs. Meng-Han (Mina) Tsai and Jorge Cortes, from the Georgia Cancer Center (GCC), and Dr. Steven Coughlin from the School of Public Health, that was published in JAMA Network Open earlier this month, sheds even more light on the disparities that people living in underserved areas face when it comes specifically to colorectal cancer screenings and outcomes. They combed through data from 22 cancer registries from 22 different cancer centers, including the GCC, and found that if a colorectal cancer patient is between the ages of 30 and 39, and they live in a rural community where poverty is rampant, they are 50 percent more likely to die from that cancer compared to people the same ages living in an urban community where medical services, like colonoscopies, are readily available. That, combined with the fact that we know more and more young adults are being diagnosed with this type of cancer, is truly staggering and something we must work to fix. Dr. Tsai says one way to do that is by engaging with these communities and involving the people who live there in promoting access to screenings and educating them on risks and potential symptoms of colorectal cancer, particularly in younger populations. I agree.

Suicide Prevention Project recognized by Augusta Partnership for Children

Here’s another example of how the work you all do is transforming people’s lives. Suicide is a leading cause of death and affects people of all ages – in fact it is among the top 9 causes of death for people ages 10-64, and the second leading cause among people ages 10-14 and 25-34. At MCG, we are fortunate to have a group dedicated to changing that. Dr. Martha Tingen is director of the Suicide Prevention Project called Choose Life, which aims to spread awareness of suicide prevention, decrease the stigma of reaching out for help, decrease suicide rates, prevent suicide attempts and provide postvention resources when a suicide occurs. It is a cause that is deeply personal to Dr. Tingen, who lost her oldest son Nathan to suicide in 2018. When she applied for initial grant funding from the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, she named the project Choose Life, because in her own words: “Prevention is so key to decreasing morbidity and mortality in so many diseases. However, when a suicide occurs, there is no longer an option for prevention.” As part of the project’s deliverables, Dr. Tingen and her team formed a coalition with local stakeholders to help spread awareness and affect change. In Richmond County, that coalition is with the Augusta Partnership for Children – who just last month selected the Richmond County Suicide Prevention Coalition as their Outstanding Collaborative Supporter. Dr. Tingen tells us this important work is certainly the combined effort of many, including Brandon Warrick, program coordinator, and Ashley Prager, program assistant. Congratulations to you all on this well-deserved recognition.

Northwest Campus faculty, students go on medical mission trip to Dominican Republic

The always impactful work of our medical school seems to be a theme this week. So, as we close today, I wanted to share the life-changing difference some of our students and faculty recently made in the lives of people with little to no access to health care. Each year, Dr. Paul Brock, associate dean at our Northwest Campus in Rome, takes a group of our third-year students and several volunteer faculty from up that way to the Dominican Republic for a medical mission trip. This year’s group included Dr. Shalini Reddy, a Rome family medicine physician, and Dr. Heather Pryor, a 1996 MCG graduate and family medicine physician in nearby Cedartown; as well as Class of 2026 students, Samantha Armas, James Gardner, Sophia Hamill, Nabihah Khan and Brenna Martin. Dr. Brock has actually integrated this experience into the Northwest Campus’ curriculum because he believes every medical student needs to see the health care disparities that exist in the world and gain a better understanding on how they can best serve their patients back at home. The experience also allows them to truly practice their clinical skills because in that type of environment there is no ability to order diagnostic tests like labs and X-rays.

Over five days and five locations, working sun-up to sun-down, and speaking through interpreters, this group saw 1,739 patients whose maladies ran the gamut from skin cancer to diabetes, from people living with the repercussions of stroke to those with fractures that had never healed. There was no part of the health care continuum they did not see. Wow. It’s as Dr. Brock says “We brought health care to these people, but we also brought a healing and loving touch and true engagement. These people have never had that.”

My best to you all,

David C. Hess, MD

Dean, Medical College of Georgia

Upcoming Events

September 19 – Literature of Prescription Exhibit Talk by Professor Anna Harris-Parker, 4pm, Reese Library

September 20 – MCG Faculty Senate Meeting, noon, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium

October 26 – MCG White Coat Ceremony, 2pm, William B. Bell Auditorium

November 15 – Annual Body Donor Memorial Service, 1pm, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium