Dear Medical College of Georgia Friends,

Governor Kemp includes funding for translational research building in 2025 budget recommendation  

We got great news last week when Georgia Gov. Brian P. Kemp introduced his 2025 budget recommendation that includes $99.8 million in funding for a new translational research building here. This proposed 150,000 square-foot building will help enhance the great work that you all are already doing and ensure that we are able to retain the great scientists and physician-scientists we already have here and recruit even more. Discoveries made here at MCG have been changing the lives of people in Georgia, and frankly, the world, for almost 200 years. The new research building will provide modern laboratory spaces, advanced equipment and updated technology infrastructure and help us continue to grow our National Institutes of Health funding and advance toward top 60 in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research rankings. Did you know that every dollar in NIH funding means an additional $2.54 is invested in the community?

I would be remiss here not to thank Governor Kemp and those who have worked tirelessly to garner support for this important project – including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Speaker of the House Jon Burns, the Georgia General Assembly, our local legislative delegation and the University System of Georgia. I also want to express my gratitude to donors who have helped us raise around $30 million in philanthropy toward the project – people like Dr. George Snelling, State Representative Gary Richardson and his wife Ginger, Andy Jones, Don Grantham, and Will McKnight, among others; the City of Augusta; and the MCG Foundation and AU Foundation. I am also immensely grateful to President Russell Keen and our government relations staff, who truly believe in and help us demonstrate the powerful ways research here is ensuring better health and better lives for the people of our state.

MCG Immunologist earns NIH pilot grant to study chronic inflammatory diseases

Here’s a great example of that important work: Dr. Rafael Czepielewski, an assistant professor in our Immunology Center of Georgia, just received a prestigious MIST Scholar Award (one of only five granted annually) in Mucosal Immunology from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. His goal is to uncover the interplay between the immune system and lymphatic vasculature in chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Despite advances in treating IBD, the underlying causes remain elusive and current therapies often manage symptoms but fail to provide a cure or prevent relapses. He’s discovered that during chronic inflammation, the lymphatic vessels in the colon are altered, disrupting their ability to connect key components of the immune system. That may be a fundamental reason why inflammation persists and why patients experience relapses. His project will also investigate a newly identified population of macrophages, immune cells that act as a secondary barrier in the intestine, that also play a crucial role in immune surveillance, helping to distinguish between the good and the bad in our bodies. He believes that if those are lost in intestinal diseases, that could exacerbate chronic inflammation. This has implications beyond IBD as well – better understanding mucosal immunity could lead to the development of more effective vaccines and immunotherapies. Great and important work. Between 2.4 and 3.1 million people in the US suffer with IBD.

Pre- and postdoctoral trainees receive American Heart Association fellowships

Part of the success of IMMCG is in the strong ability of co-directors Drs. Klaus Ley and Lynn Hedrick to recruit young and dynamic faculty talent (they just recruited their 10th) who not only bring with them NIH funding but also postdoctoral trainees who represent the next generation of prolific scientists.

That’s something I’m proud to say we do well across MCG. That was evidenced recently when we learned that two dozen of our pre- and postdoctoral trainees received fellowship awards from the American Heart Association.  

Predoctoral Awardees and faculty mentors include:

• Andrew Gregory (Dr. Fan Fan, Department of Physiology)  
• Adam Jones (Dr. Daria Ilatovskaya, Department of Physiology)  
• Ishara Menik (Dr. Eric Belin de Chantemele, Vascular Biology Center)
• Rachel Patterson (Dr. Jessica Filosa, Department of Physiology)  
• Ryan Schibalski (Dr. Ilatovskaya)  
• Mitch Shivers (Dr. David Fulton, VBC)  
• Amritha Sreekumar (Dr. Gabor Csanyi, VBC)
• Josue Zambrano-Carrasco (Dr. Huabo Su, VBC)

Postdoctoral Awardees include:

• Dr. Mona Elgazzaz (Dr. Jessica Faulkner, Department of Physiology)  
• Dr. Selim Hossain (Dr. Tohru Fukai, VBC)  
• Dr. Sadikul Islam (Dr. Su)
• Dr. Yoichi Ono (Dr. Belin de Chantemele)

Dr. Adam Salon, in Dr. Belin de Chantemele’s lab also recently received the American Diabetes Association’s Postdoctoral Award. Congratulations to you all and my thanks to these faculty for their investment in these young and up and coming scientists.

MCG student-led initiative trains community members on how to manage crisis situations

Many times, investing in training the next generation means going beyond our own walls. Here’s an example of what I mean: The Community Initiative First Response (CIFR) organization, an MCG student-led initiative (advised by Dr. Vikas Kumar from our Department of Anesthesiology), is aimed at teaching area students how to manage a crisis before help arrives or if it is delayed. Since 2017 (and as recently as November), they’ve held workshops for local schools, including Lakeside High School, Evans High School, Stallings Island Middle School, A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet School, C.T. Walker Magnet School and Blue Ridge Elementary School at the AU Interdisciplinary Simulation Center. Our students teach them how to manage conditions like cardiac arrest, choking, heat stroke, anaphylaxis, burns and bleeding and how to perform CPR – important because we know that about 40% of people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital receive bystander CPR before professional help arrives. CIFR leaders recently met with the American Red Cross of East Central Georgia so they can involve first responders in helping train the community.  

Impactful stuff – CIFR collects data on the trainees’ first-aid knowledge before and after the workshop. Members say there is a massive difference, with about 90% more skills being learned.

Dr. Richard Schwartz to retire March 31; Dr. Stephen Shiver will serve as interim chair of Emergency Medicine

Certainly, we can’t talk about efforts to improve emergency care without thinking about our own Dr. Richard Schwartz, chair of our Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Schwartz is a decorated veteran and an accomplished physician who has helped improve disaster response across the country and change emergency care on battlefields across the world, ultimately saving the lives of countless soldiers. He has also led our department here for the last 22 years. I wanted to let you know today that Dr. Schwartz will retire as chair March 31. Dr. Stephen Shiver, vice chair for clinical operations, will serve as interim chair.  

Dr. Shiver also has a long and dedicated history at MCG. He graduated from medical school here in 1997 and went on to complete a surgery residency at Wake Forest. He ultimately decided that his calling was in emergency medicine and came back to his medical school for residency from 2002-05, after which he joined our faculty. In addition to his role as vice chair, he serves as medical director for the emergency department at Wellstar MCG Health. He also led our emergency medicine residency program from 2008-17. I look forward to our continued work together.

Thank you, Dr. Schwartz, for your two-plus decades of leadership here and your continued mentorship of Dr. Shiver.  

My best to you always,

David C. Hess, MD

Dean, Medical College of Georgia

February 8 – Igniting the Dream of Medicine, J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons

February 21 – MCG State of the College Address, noon, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium

March 18 – MCG Faculty Senate Meeting, noon, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium

March 21 – MCG Match Day

April 18 – MCG Faculty Senate Meeting, noon, Natalie and Lansing B. Lee Jr. Auditorium

May 8 – MCG Hooding Ceremony, 2pm, TBD

May 29-31 – MCG Faculty Development Conference, more details to come