Message from the Chairman

Welcome to the Department of Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia. It is a privilege to serve as Chairman. Our mission is to provide outstanding care and improve the health for patients in the region; carry out cutting edge basic, translational and clinical research that meets regional and national need; and to educate housestaff, post-graduates and students as future leaders and practitioners in medicine and biomedical research. The Chairman’s office provides operational direction for the missions of Department of Medicine and its Sections, and it is the conveyance for its members to the Medical College community.

We care for a diverse group of patients in multiple settings, providing both tertiary care for the region and primary care for the community. Inpatient clinical activities of the Department, including primary care and the subspecialties, are conducted at the 630 bed Medical College of Georgia Medical Center and the fully integrated and attached Augusta Veterans Administration Medical Center. Ambulatory care is based on campus at specialty and subspecialty clinical practices, at sites in the Augusta area, and at outreach locations throughout the state of Georgia.

Basic and clinical research for the Department of Medicine for trainees is facilitated through both Medicine faculty mentors and interaction with faculty in other Departments, Centers of Excellence, the Discovery Institutes and The Georgia Prevention Institute. This includes a core group of Section leaders , experienced investigators, senior scientists and program directors, and they are complemented by superb trainees and students. Collectively the integrated expertise, experienced workforce and momentum, provide the opportunity and infrastructure for discovery and translation of basic laboratory findings from the bench to the bedside, and the means for training the next generation of clinical investigators. Our faculty takes great pride in this endeavor. This critical mass also contributes to and is essential to fulfilling our educational mission.

Our Internal Medicine faculty is committed to the development of outstanding clinicians according to core competencies of patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning, communication, professionalism, and systems-based practice. With eighteen categorical and ten preliminary residents per year, we are a moderate sized program allowing for personalized opportunities for residents with ambitious goals. A unique combination of longitudinal mentorship, resident collegiality, patient-centered care and supervised research, mark the program as one moving resolutely into the forefront of 21st century medicine. We are committed to providing a supportive environment that serves as the foundation for life-long learning, career advancement, scientific development, practice opportunity, and leadership.

Our housestaff are outstanding, committed to clinical and academic excellence and devoted to the welfare of their patients. They influence programmatic development to meet the evolving education needs, and they are devoted to developing personal habits that perpetuate lifelong learning. Nevertheless, while our training program is vigorous, we strive to a balance between work and family life, community commitment and institutional advancement. In this context, our faculty serves as outstanding role models and leaders, and they provide many different examples of fulfillment for our trainees. They have passion for medicine while being devoted to family, integrated in the community and involved in many other outside activities.

Our overriding goal is to provide the foundation for lifelong learning and success. Our senior educators are nationally recognized, and we strive to continue to improve educational methods. The training program is innovative and provides a broad range of opportunities and learning experiences, and it can be customized to meet the needs of the individual trainees. We are dedicated to excellence and the highest level of patient care. Outstanding opportunities with established investigators in biomedical research provide many opportunities for successful career development in academic and clinical endeavors to advance the field of medicine for the next generation of physician and translational scientists.