Welcome to the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine Web site and thank you for your interest in our school. I bring you greetings as the new dean of the nation’s 13th oldest medical school, established in 1828.

 

July 1 (Canada Day) was my first official day as dean and I can tell you it’s an honor and privilege to be here. Even before I started my new job, I signaled my desire to communicate regularly and effectively with faculty, students, staff, alumni, potential students and our many other public partners. A regular message from me on the home page will be just a part of that.

 

I want you to know my office door – and my mind – also will be open to sharing your aspirations and concerns about this great school. Frankly, I think MCG’s potential is essentially limitless. On my visits, I found a cohesive faculty, staff and administration that has worked hard to propel the school and the university forward. Their diligence has definitely paid off, with record levels of research funding and clinical activity. The school’s class size, already one of the largest in the country, is increasing this fall to better meet the state and country’s need for well-trained physicians. This strong sense of unity and mission will continue to serve MCG well as our nation moves through a time when research and educational dollars to support future growth will be harder to come by. MCG School of Medicine can and will adapt to these challenges and environmental pressures.

 

To do my part in the present and in planning for the future, I will initially immerse myself in MCG faculty’s teaching, research and clinical work so that hopefully, like the leaders I have known, I will come to truly understand what we have and what we need. I look to the university’s other leaders, particularly President Dan Rahn, to guide me. The possibilities are exciting to consider and the future reality will, no doubt, be rewarding.

 

One of my first privileges as dean is to announce the appointment of Dr. Laura L. Mulloy, our chief of Nephrology, Hypertension and Transplantation Medicine, as interim chair of the Department of Medicine. Laura reflects perfectly what I saw as the strength of MCG while I was still a dean candidate. She has served this school, not only as a clinician and teacher, but as good faculty citizen, working on important but tough issues such as promotion and intern selection. She also has served the more global medical community, contributing to professional organizations at the state and national levels. Laura joined the faculty in 1990 after completing her nephrology fellowship here. Sixteen years later, she has not lost her enthusiastic commitment to academic medicine. I thank her for what she already has done for the School of Medicine and for her willingness now to manage the school’s largest academic department during this pivotal period.

 

I thank Dr. Peter Buckley as well, our chair of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, for taking the lead on a national search for a permanent chair in the Department of Medicine. Peter is a leader in his field, and his energies and intellect are boundless. No chair has time for this much more work, yet Peter has committed to make the time for a successful search process.

 

I also want to thank and congratulate Dr. Ruth Marie Fincher, whose name is synonymous with medical education in Georgia and beyond. Rhee, the school’s vice dean for academic affairs, recently became the inaugural recipient of the Southern Group on Educational Affairs Medical Education Scholarship Career Award. Rhee was recognized for a “distinguished level and significant record of educational scholarship, medical education accomplishments and contributions and continuing commitments to enhancing medical education in the SGEA,” according to group Chair Amy V. Blue.

 

Kudos to Rhee and her very able academic affairs team in the School of Medicine. It is the dedicated faculty and staff of this school, people such as Drs. Mulloy, Buckley and Fincher, who are the heart of MCG and one of the many reasons I am glad to be here.

 

I thank you again for your support and look forward to building our futures. Together we will change, innovate and educate.

Sincerely,

D. Douglas Miller, M.D., C.M.
Dean, MCG School of Medicine