“Therefore in medicine we ought to know the causes of sickness and health.” Avicenna
Welcome Class of 2017 … Great Start on the Journey to Becoming Physicians
A huge, warm welcome and congratulations to members of the bright-minded and eager Class of 2017 who Monday officially begin their educational journey to become physicians at Georgia’s only public medical school! There were several special events to help get the ball rolling on forming new relationships with outings such as a bonfire and barbecue at Clarks Hill – at the beautiful property of our partners, East Central Georgia Hospital – as well as a Greenjackets game, and a student organization fair. Faculty, alumni and students gathered at our Athens campus this week for brunch, poolside fun and more. Students already on board helped their new colleagues move in then gave them a s’mores party. Who can argue with a s’mores party!! Dr. Schuster also had a barbecue for new students, existing students and faculty. New students also got a “taste” of the student-run clinic that serves the community and started pairing up with peer mentors. Thanks to our Athens colleagues for being such a welcoming group.Please remember to follow updates on Facebook, http://bit.ly/MCG2017. In addition to all of these happening events, the MCG Alumni Association also hosted the annual Freshman Brunch. This is always a fantastic opportunity for our new medical students and their families to meet their new colleagues. Association President Dr. Sam Richwine and many others provided a warm welcome for our freshmen. A thousand thanks to those who helped put all of these events together! Alongside welcoming our students, the university will welcome undergraduate students to Freshman Convocation Aug. 16 at 11 a.m. at the Maxwell Theater on our Summerville Campus—to learn more follow this link,http://bit.ly/Freshmanconvocation.
Awesome Alumni … More Engaging Events … Summer in Savannah
In fact, many fabulous events have been held this month by our alumni for our students. The MCG Alumni Association hosted it Sixth Annual Dinner with Twelve Strangers, part of a mentoring program for rising second-year students and local alumni from the Savannah area. Dr. Buffi Boyd, a 1999 graduate, served as host of the event at the Savannah Golf Club. Dr. Melvin Haysman, ’72, and Dr. John Duttenhaver, ’78, joined in the fun. Dr. and Mrs. Joe Edwards III, Class of 1990, generously opened their home for the first event of the Southeast Georgia Mentoring Council for third- and fourth-year students living and learning in their area. The Edwards hosted a delightful evening of refreshments and camaraderie in a most gracious setting. MCG alums Dr. Bill Check, ’85; Dr. Jack Considine, ’92; Dr. Duttenhaver; Dr. Sandy Rosenthal, ’65; Dr. Sid Smith, ’87; and Dr. Dan Deloach, ’74; regaled students with medical school anecdotes from their days in Augusta, noting that: the more things change the more they stay the same. Dr. Deloach and his wife Cam Deloach, a 1972 graduate of the College of Nursing, also hosted an elegant dinner at the Savannah Golf Club welcoming these third- and fourth-year students to the area. Joined by dozens of friends, supporters and alumni, the students were royally welcomed and feted with dinner and fellowship. Attendees included Dr. Boyd; Dr. Bill Darden, Jr., who is President -Elect of the Georgia Medical Society; Dr. Duttenhaver; Dr. and Mrs. Haysman; Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Lewis, The Honorable Charles Mikell and Dr. Julia Mikell, ’76; Dr. Irving Victor, ’45; Dr. Leslie Wilkes, ‘65, along with Dr. Wayne Rentz , ’72, from our Southeast Campus, as well as Vice Dean Paul Wallach. We are so fortunate to have such incredible alums as well as the support of Scott Henson and Stephanie Duttenhaver in the GRU Advancement office. They made July an incredible month for our students.
Welcome Junior Faculty as Well …What a Dish!
The Junior Faculty Dinner was held at the home of Dr. Paul Wallach and his terrific wife Rae. Our Junior Faculty members are essential to the life, hope, and future of our institution and we so appreciate this opportunity to recognize their contribution. Junior faculty were able to meet colleagues from other departments, network, and share and discuss research, teaching and clinical interests. The group also got information on the Faculty and Spouses Club. It was a lovely event with great conversation and networking.
Derailing Disparities… Georgia Legislative Black Caucus…
We had the great honor of participating in the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus’ recent health care symposium, Vision 20/20: Creating Public Policies and Community Partnerships that Dismantle Health Care Disparities in the African-American Community. We so appreciate the effort of the caucus to explore and address important health care issues for our citizens and to help dismantle health care disparities. These efforts are obviously very much in keeping with our core reason for being. Our thanks also to Cedric Johnson, Meg Fischer, Karyn Nixon and team for hosting dinner. By the way, did you know the Georgia caucus is the largest black caucus in the nation?? You can learn more here: http://www.galbc.org/.
More Good Health Colleagues …. Georgia Southern University
Speaking of great colleagues in health care, we also recently visited with our friends at Georgia Southern University. Our primary hosts were Jim Braselton, a member of the faculty of the GSU Department of Mathematical Sciences who also chairs his university’s Medical/Dental Admissions Review Board, along with Lisa Vance, Coordinator of the College of Science and Mathematics Advisement Center and Pre-Health Professional Advisement. Our sister USG institution is a great partner in helping our mostly rural and always large – and growing – state grow an equally large, well-prepared health care workforce. We spoke on important topics such as curriculum and general advisement that best preps students to take the MCAT. It was a really great visit. As with the just-mentioned efforts of the black caucus, our goals are absolutely in sync.
Dual Degrees … Taking Care of Business
As promised last week when we told you about the new B.S./M.D. dual degree, we’ve now officially announced the M.D/M.B.A. program with our new partners, the James M. Hull College of Business. It’s another awesome opportunity to maximally prepare physicians for the complex world in which they will practice. As we also said last week, this is yet another benefit of the expanded expertise of our university. Like the B.S./M.D., program, this will be offered to students this very fall, see http://news.gru.edu/archives/9374. Another cool partnership that will produce more physicians and scientists is our new pipeline program with the University of California, Merced, see http://news.gru.edu/archives/9345. Again, awesome opportunities being realized that will make our college, our university and our state even more incredible. Truly exciting.
Supersize … Growing more Docs
We’ve also heard a lot – and done a lot – about growing the medical school class size to help with the physician shortage in our state and nation. To gain a more national perspective on how that, along with a small flurry of new medical schools and more targeted initiatives to grow more primary docs, is translating, check out this AAMC Analysishttps://www.aamc.org/download/347038/data/june2013analysisinbrief-usmedicalschoolsongoingeffortstomeetphy.pdf.
Kidney Care …. Kudos … Translational Studies
Great progress being made right here in finding a non-invasive way to tell how much kidney function has survived a serious case of inflammation or a chronic case of high blood pressure graces the cover of the current issue of Kidney International, http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v84/n2/full/ki201399a.html. The research team, led by Dr. Michael Madaio, also gets kudos in an accompanying commentary,http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v84/n2/full/ki2013123a.html. Awesome. Dr. Tracy McGaha is co-corresponding author, GRU Graduate Student Kapil Chaudhary is the prestigious first author, and Dr. Daniel Kleven in a co-author. They are doing some equally cool, related studies on how to stop the damaging inflammation. If you want to read more about both, check this out, http://news.gru.edu/archives/8452.
Apply Now…. Benefit Forever … Faculty Development Fellowship
The GRU Educational Innovation Institute’s (EII) is calling for applications for the 2014 Faculty Development Fellowship, a terrific opportunity for GRU faculty wanting to develop their expertise and careers in health sciences education or health sciences research. Faculty accepted into the fellowship complete either the educational research track (a two-year program with a research focus and a research study requirement) or the teaching scholars track (a 10-month program with a teaching focus and a scholarly project requirement). The application deadline is Sept. 2 and the fellowship starts Jan. 16 so please get the information to them soon. For more information, email EDI@gru.edu or call 706-721-8982.
Upcoming Events…
Aug. 5 – First day of class for our medical students, Class of 2017 … Way to go!
Aug. 8 – Blizzards® are in the forecast for Children’s Hospital of Georgia on Miracle Treat Day. To participate, go to Dairy Queen stores across the CSRA and ask for the signature frozen treat that benefits the CHOG. Locations include Augusta, Louisville, Swainsboro, and Waynesboro. Click here for more information,http://news.gru.edu/archives/9361.
Aug. 15 – Kick-off the new school year while celebrating and learning more about the full spectrum of services at GRU and GRHealth at the first ever GR Connections Expo, 3-7 p.m., at the Christenberry Fieldhouse on the Forest Hills Campus. Follow this link to see map, http://binged.it/17iLLXF. To see the website please go to,http://www.gru.edu/trends/expo.
Aug. 15 – GRU EII Health Sciences Education Grand Rounds, co-sponsored by Department of Neurology, Bringing Consistent Evaluation to Clerkship Competencies, 8-9 a.m., BI 3079.
Sept. 12 – GRU’s 3rd Annual Diversity and Inclusion Summit will be held at the Salvation Kroc Center. This year’s theme is, Challenge Your Perspective and will be held 9:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. To learn more, go to the event page–http://www.gru.edu/diversity/summit/.
Sept. 12 – GRU EII Health Sciences Education Grand Rounds, co-sponsored by the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Student and Faculty Perceptions of Class Attendance, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., EC 1210.
Sept. 13 – Mark your calendars for noon and the first MCG Faculty Senate meeting for the 2014 academic year. The event will be held in the Lee Auditorium.
Sept. 17-18 – Please join the GRU Research Community at the Innovation Summit at the Kroc Center. To learn more, follow this link http://www.gru.edu/oic/is13/.
Sept. 26-27 – The Southern Translational Education and Research (STAR) Conference 2013 will be held at the Augusta Marriott. Investigators in the field of clinical and translational science are invited to submit abstracts to be considered by Aug. 30th. Please contact Kim McKenzie at kmckenzie@rx.uga.edu and visit the website, www.rxugace.com/star for more information.
Oct. 2 – GRU EII Health Sciences Education Grand Rounds, co-sponsored by the College of Allied Health Sciences,Developing Interprofessional Sexual Health Competencies: Why We Should Care, noon-1 p.m., EC 1222.
Oct. 12 – The White Coat ceremony will be held at the Bell Auditorium at 3 p.m. with the reception immediately following at the Old Medical College building. Please check this event page on our MCG Facebook to follow details-http://on.fb.me/15N7Tfi.
Oct. 15 – Join in the grand opening of the Northwest Campus based in Rome at noon at the James D. Maddox Heritage Hall at Georgia Highlands College, 415 E. Third Avenue at Glenn Milner Blvd. in Rome. Follow this link for a map: http://binged.it/1cer6er.
Nov. 15 – GRU EII Health Sciences Education Grand Rounds, co-sponsored by the Department of Oral Health and Diagnostic Sciences, Critical Thinking: Teaching and Measuring, noon-1 p.m., GC 5002.
Check out our MCG Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/grumcg and Twitter page as well #Follow.
Enjoy your weekend!