Letter from Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr., Dr. Daniel Rahn and Dr.Michael Adams

The need to educate more physicians in Georgia has emerged as a critical issue for all of us – educators, business executives, indeed all residents of our state. Today Georgia is ranked 40th in the nation in physician to population ratios. While we’ve been debating the best approach to expand public medical education in Georgia, we have slipped from 37th over the last two years. Why? First of all because the population of our state is dramatically increasing; Georgia is one of the most rapidly growing states in the nation. And also, because we’re not educating enough physicians or attracting enough physicians from beyond Georgia to keep up with our state’s health care needs.

To ensure an adequate physician workforce to meet the health care needs of Georgians, we must take dramatic steps right now to educate more medical students and to expand residency training opportunities. By 2020 we will need to produce 200 to 300 more new physicians each year to keep pace with demand for services.

In September 2007, the Medical College of Georgia retained a nationally recognized consultant, Pittsburgh-based Tripp Umbach, to complete a medical education expansion study on behalf of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. This report will inform Georgia’s ongoing planning for the statewide expansion of public medical education.

A key part of our opportunity is a partnership between the state’s only public university devoted exclusively to health sciences, MCG, and our leading public research university, the University of Georgia, which includes the College of Public Health. It’s not a surprise that these two institutions are joining hands to address one of the most serious challenges facing our state’s education system.

Collaboration between UGA and MCG is attractive for several reasons. Similar to MCG, UGA has a research mission; and UGA has an existing cadre of basic science faculty. The closure of the Navy Supply School provides a potential opportunity to secure clinical teaching facilities with excellent proximity to two major hospitals and classroom facilities that would meet preclinical teaching needs. Athens and Gainesville offer robust medical communities, including many physicians who are MCG alumni and are interested in teaching MCG medical students.

A partnership with UGA would enable MCG to offer additional dual degree pathways. In addition, we expect that an active collaboration would enable us to increase the aggregate funding we receive from the National Institutes of Health. Ultimately, though, we will address head on our basic goal – to educate more physicians for the people of this state, which will bring better health care and economic viability to our state.

With the full implementation of this plan, the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine, through its partnership with the University of Georgia, could expand to 1,200 students by 2020 from its current level of 745, an increase of approximately 60 percent, addressing a critical need for more physicians in Georgia.

Erroll B. Davis Jr., Chancellor, University System of Georgia
Dr. Daniel Rahn, President, Medical College of Georgia, and Senior Vice Chancellor for Health and Medical Programs, University System of Georgia
Dr. Michael Adams, President, University of Georgia