His favorite place for teaching is the patient’s bedside.
“Teaching is intense, cooperative moments between a student, professor and patient,” says Dr. D. Douglas Miller.
It’s easy for students to see from this vantage point how much learning matters. The new dean of the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine wants students to know from day one how much they matter as well.
“I want to meet them early. I want to get them truly anticipatory about the kind of impact they are going to make in this state and around the country in a few years’ time,” he says. He wants students to be a part of today’s breathtaking medical progress as well as the legacy of the nation’s 13th-oldest medical school.
Dr. Miller recognizes this is intuitive for many of the bright young people who have chosen a career in medicine, but that doesn’t let the institution off the hook. “I want the young men and women who come through this school to be excited about being part of the MCG family and the school’s tradition.
“I firmly believe that the reason a school of medicine exists is not simply to do health care delivery, nor even to do research. It’s really to educate and bring people at all levels to a better understanding of medicine, whether it’s doctoral students or young physicians or established physicians.”
Of course, excellent teaching translates into excellent patient care and research, a package the 51-year-old dean believes MCG is well-positioned to deliver. He takes the lead of a medical school at a time many might consider tough going, with unprecedented competition for research and educational funding.
“There is no free money any more; there is no free lunch.
“It’s all very competitive, but I think this institution is committed to being competitive. MCG will be in the mix of institutions competitive for new and existing research dollars, educational funds and other types of support institutions need to be successful. It won’t be easy. It’s an uphill battle because you are competing with some of the finest institutions in the country for those dollars.”
His sense that the university seems ready to take on the best of them is one
reason he decided to come to MCG from Saint Louis University School of Medicine,
where he chaired the Department of Internal Medicine.
This positive positioning comes in part from the university’s fundamental relationship as the state’s health sciences university, he says. “There are many other institutions around the country that either don’t have that priority or that commitment.”
MCG’s positioning also comes from being a health sciences campus, with a ready mix of health sciences professions, he says.
The best competitive advantage is the people who optimize that mix. “Every clinical setting involves the participation of physicians and nurses and allied health professionals and, increasingly, experts in dentistry,” Dr. Miller says.
When he visited the campus, he didn’t see the organizational silos he’d seen elsewhere. “The culture appears to be one of collaboration. The competitive juices are there, but they are not internally directed.” Both are important, says Dr. Miller, who started his new duties July 1. “When I came to MCG, I saw a lot of opportunity for personal growth by joining an organization that is ascendant. I see it as a chance to grow personally and improve on a very strong organizational base that is already here. That strength is something a lot of people should feel good about.”
He approaches his new job with a tad of transition anxiety but with clear commitment to lead—as any good teacher might— by example, keeping his hands in the teaching, clinical and research mix.
As he talks about his own career, the importance of mentors becomes clear,
from his childhood physician in Canada, Dr. Clare Flint, to McGill University
cardiologist Tom Hale, who inspired his love of cardiology, to the former head
of cardiology at Emory University, Dr. J. Willis Hurst (MCG School of Medicine
class of 1944), a renowned teacher and prolific medical writer.
Dr. Patricia L. Monteleone, dean of Saint Louis University School of Medicine, for 13 years, also has a prominent place on the list. A visitor to that medical school once told Dr. Miller that Dr. Monteleone ‘gets it.’ “You have to get it,” he says. “You have to be able to understand the institutional vision right down to the level of what the students are looking for in their educational experience.”
Dr. Monteleone says her former medicine chair does get it. “Dr. Miller is bright with strong leadership skills and work ethic,” she says. “He is creative in strategic thinking as well as personable and a good manager. He will be a fine addition to your leadership team at the Medical College of Georgia.”
Early support can turn students on to medicine and science, Dr. Miller says, possibly inspiring a career in academic medicine. “You have to commit the time and energy as an institution to foster the career of the faculty and to make sure they continue to grow and make progress. That is what really keeps people in academics. If people are contributing and working on a positive trajectory, then they will be happy and productive in an academic career.”
One of his many goals as dean is keeping this commitment to MCG faculty. “I think medical school deans are given a great opportunity to lead,” he says. He got a taste of leadership in 1996 at Saint Louis University, when he was named associate chair of internal medicine and head of internal medicine programs at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Three years later, he became residency director for his department. The next year, he was named chair of the department, which is responsible for about 40 percent of the activity in the medical school. Administrative roles taught him the business side of his profession and how to work for change within the system. During these years, he took business courses, completing his executive master of business administration in international business at Saint Louis University in 1999.
He steps into this new job with not only enthusiasm but with a focus that reflects his business sense.
“The fundamental dilemma of an academic health center is that it’s expected to cover the entire waterfront, to be excellent in all areas,” he says. However, reality and success mandate choices. “We recognize that there are finite resources and that focused investment is required for scientific program development. We recognize that there are needs to be met and missions to be jointly pursued for education and health care delivery. We’ll try to blend those priorities and opportunities into a strategic document that is a go-forward blueprint. Nobody really can plan much beyond three to five years in that regard, but I think we can see the trends and the need to focus is going to be a big part of MCG’s competitiveness.”
This year’s freshman class of 190 is MCG’s largest ever.
Where, how and if the next class needs to be even larger is an issue he’ll be “kicking the tires on” early in his tenure.
Toni Baker
Dr. D. Douglas Miller is:
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