Brag Sheet 2002

Submitted to Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith
December 2002

Success with Strategic Planning

  • Dr. Daniel W. Rahn, who was inaugurated April 26 as the seventh president of the Medical College of Georgia, spearheaded a blueprint for MCG growth and development characterized by 30 high-level strategic initiatives.
  • MCG recruited over 150 faculty members, including deans of the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Medicine and Nursing and vice presidents of university advancement and external affairs/government relations.
  • A strong emphasis of faculty recruitment included leadership in strategic clinical areas. Recruits included chairmen of neurosurgery, anesthesia/perioperative medicine, orthopedics, otolaryngology and medicine.
  • The School of Medicine established performance metrics for its clinical, research and educational missions.
  • MCG recruited more than a dozen cancer specialists and received a planning grant to begin foundational work for designation as a Georgia Cancer Coalition Program of Excellence.
  • MCG is developing graduate programs in biostatistics and biomedical technology, and a Ph.D. program in collaboration with the University of Georgia as a component of MCG’s cancer initiative has been proposed.
  • The School of Dentistry submitted a proposal to the Georgia Cancer Coalition for a statewide Oral Cancer Research and Service Program.
  • New academic programs to better serve students and address the state’s health care needs include four new external-degree programs, two new Web-based courses and a springboard agreement offering an automatic pathway from Augusta State University to MCG in several programs.
  • The School of Dentistry initiated a distance-education endeavor with the U.S. Army, teaching graduate courses to endodontics residents at Fort Bragg, N.C.
  • The School of Dentistry initiated an Open Doorway Program to enhance retention of under-represented minority students.
  • MCG created research centers in genomic medicine, disaster/operational medicine, immunotherapy, neuroscience and vision science.
  • MCG has developed core laboratories and services that do everything from determine protein expression in cancer cells to develop animal models for studies.
  • Dr. Katherine Nugent, associate dean for academic programs in the School of Nursing, is the project director of a $540,324 Nursing Workforce Diversity Grant awarded by the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Service Administration.
  • The MCG School of Dentistry and MCG Health System established an external educational site in Warrenton, Ga., to provide dental care delivered by predoctoral students to an underserved population.
  • MCG developed an academic affairs associate program to foster administrative knowledge and experience acquisition for instructional faculty.

Campus-Related Economic Development Efforts 

  • MCG and its health system have an annual economic impact of more than $1.5 billion on Augusta and surrounding communities, according to 2002 reports from the University System of Georgia and the Georgia Hospital Association.
  • The MCG Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development is developing an incubator facility to enable the startup of new biomedical businesses to take research findings from the bench to the bedside.
  • MCG’s 2002 research funding of $48.2 million is 10.3 percent higher than last year’s and represents a 156 percent increase over the last five years.
  • In the first three months of fiscal 2002, MCG posted $28.7 million in direct and indirect research funding, a 67 percent increase over research funding posted during the first quarter of fiscal 2001.

Improvements Related to 2002 Admissions Standards/Quality 

  • MCG’s fall enrollment of over 2,000 students is 3 percent higher than last year’s and includes an 18 percent increase in under-represented minorities.

Capital Projects Completed in the Past Year

  • In August, MCG broke ground on phase II of the Interdiscplinary Research Building, a 94,000-square-foot facility that will double the complex’s space.
  • The MCG Wellness Center, a first-rate fitness facility for the entire MCG community, was completed.
  • The preliminary programming for a cancer research building has been completed.

Nationally Recognized Programs of Excellence 

  • The National Institutes of Health cited the MCG Department of Neurology as 25th in the country among all neurology departments in National Institutes of Health funding awarded to academic medical centers.
  • The University HealthSystem Consortium cited MCG Health System’s stroke program as the best performer among academic medical centers for treating ischemic stroke.
  • MCG Hospitals and Clinics was named a top-three teaching hospital for outstanding performance in radiology by the University HealthSystem Consortium.
  • MCG’s Movement Disorders Clinic is a National Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence.
  • The MCG physical therapy program was ranked 33rd in the nation by U.S. News and World Report’s Best Graduate Schools 2002 edition.
  • For the second consecutive year, the MCG Children’s Medical Center was in the 99th percentile for patient and family satisfaction rankings of U.S. pediatric hospitals.
  • Dr. Jin Xiong She, an internationally known diabetes researcher, was recruited from the University of Florida to develop a world-class genomics program in MCG’s Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine.
  • An MCG class introducing the principles of medical ethics was named a 2002 Exemplary Course by WebCT, the world’s leading provider of integrated electronic learning systems for higher education.

National Achievements by Students and Recent Graduates

  • Medical students Ed Malcom and T. Michele Thompson and MCG emergency medicine physician Phillip L. Coule won top honors from the National Association of EMS Physicians for their research on the demographics of cardiac arrest in Georgia.
  • Graduate student Kris Dhandapani was selected a finalist for the Society of Reproduction Trainee Award.
  • School of Dentistry student Theron Jones received the first National Health Service Corp. Scholarship for the school.
  • Physician assistant student Laura Burney was appointed to the board of directors of the national skin cancer prevention organization, Catch Cancer … Before It’s Too Late.
  • Graduate students Ahmed El-Marakby, Elizabeth Dabbs Loomis, Brett Mitchell, Jennifer Sasser and Jan Williams were awarded American Heart Association predoctoral fellowships to support their dissertation research.
  • Medical illustration student Brandon Pletsch received the Orville Parkes Award for Best Student Illustration from the Association of Medical Illustrators.
  • Medical illustration alumni Frank Corl, John Martini and William Winn received the Association of Medical Illustrators’ Ralph Sweet Award, Muriel Maclatchie Miller Fine Arts Award and Broedel Award of Excellence in Education, respectively.
  • Juniors in the Department of Radiologic Sciences won first place in a national poster competition sponsored by the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
  • MCG dental students scored above the national average on Parts I and II of the National Board Examination.
  • Respiratory therapy students Carol Hickock and Emi Taylor received two of four 2002 national scholarships from the American Respiratory Care Foundation.
  • Nurse anesthesia student Judy Graham-Garcis received the Joyce Kelley Scholarship from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.
  • Two medical dosimetry students’ research papers placed first and second in the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists’ annual student paper contest.
  • Dental student Robert A. Houston received the American Dental Association/Dentsply Student Clinician Award.
  • Postdoctoral fellow Sean Liour received the 2001 American Society for Neurochemistry’s Marion Kees Memorial Award for a junior scientist conducting outstanding research during graduate training.
  • Krishnan Dhandapani, a molecular medicine graduate student, received the American Society for Neurochemistry Young Investigator Educational Enhancement Award.
  • Allergy-immunology fellows Carol D. Currey, Reid F. Johnstone and William A. McCann took top honors in the 2001 American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Clemens von Pirquet Awards.

Outstanding Recognition of Campus Faculty and Staff 

  • Dr. Frank Treiber, director of MCG’s Georgia Prevention Institute, is the principal investigator of a $10 million Program Project grant from the National Institutes of Health to better identify and help young people at risk of hypertension.
  • The Department of Oral Rehabilitation received the 2002 Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award.
  • Dr. Dennis R. Ownby, chief of the Section of Allergy and Immunology, was the lead investigator of a study published in the August edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study cited evidence that children with two or more pets have fewer allergies than children with one or no pets.
  • MCG neurologists Robert Adams, David Hess and Kapil Sethi were included in a list of America’s Top Doctors by Castle Connolly Publishers. Nationally, only 1 percent of practicing physicians receives this honor. Dr. Sethi also was named to the American Academy of Neurology Board of Directors.
  • Department of Oral Rehabilitation Professor Carol Lefebvre was named editor of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry.
  • School of Dentistry Professor Rodway Mackert was elected to the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs and testified before the House Committee on Government Reform.
  • Center for Senior Health Associate Director Thomas W. Jackson was named president-elect of the Georgia Geriatric Society.
  • Department of Radiologic Sciences Instructor Mary Ann Owen was named president of the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Technologist Section.
  • Neuroscientist Cesario V. Borlongan received the International College of Geriatrics Psychoneuropharmacology Award for his research using delta opioid peptide to minimize stroke damage.
  • President Daniel W. Rahn was appointed chairman of Georgia’s Health Strategies Council.
  • Dr. Cynthia Chernecky received the Oncology Nursing Society’s Nowatny Excellence in Cancer Nursing Education Award and the Excellence in Cancer Nursing Education Award from the Oncology Nursing Society and Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories.
  • Exercise physiologist Bernard Gutin is the principal investigator of a $3.3 million National Institutes of Health grant to determine if a structured, daily exercise program can help turn the tide of childhood obesity.
  • Neurologist/neuropathologist Manuel F. Casanova received the Senior Scientist Award from the World Congress on Schizophrenia for determining that late-onset schizophrenia is a distinct, communication-disabling condition.
  • Cardiologist L. Michael Prisant was elected a regent of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.
  • Cell biologist Stephen Hsu helped identify cancer-fighting properties in green tea, then traced the juncture where healthy cells are shuttled to safety and cancer cells are sentenced to death.
  • The American Physiological Society established the Virendra B. Mahesh Award Fund to honor the MCG Regents professor.
  • Molecular biologist Dorothy Y.H. Tuan received National Institutes of Health funding to study how red blood cells change from conception to adulthood.
  • Dr. R. Christie Wray Jr. was named president of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons.
  • Pulmonologist W. Bruce Davis received the American Lung Association of Georgia’s 2002 Research Award.
  • Department of Surgery Chairman Thomas R. Gadacz was elected president of the Southeastern Surgical Congress and the Georgia Surgical Society.
  • Department of Medicine Professor Catherine S. Chew received the 2001 Distinguished Research Award from the Gastrointestinal Section of the American Physiological Society.
  • School of Nursing Associate Professor Mary Ellen Quinn was named a Scholar in the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing Program.
  • School of Nursing Assistant Professor Cathy Green received first place for exceptional baccalaureate curriculum in gerontologic nursing from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
  • Department of Medical Illustration Assistant Professor Andrew Swift received a Salon Award from the Association of Medical Illustrators.

Other Pertinent National-Caliber Achievements 

  • The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded MCG a five-year, $1.1 million grant to train six cardiovascular disease researchers per year.
  • MCG received national publicity for its participation in a study of a vaccine for the human papillomarvirus.
  • Neurologist Mary D. Hughes received a grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to explore the role of the gene, APOE 4, in multiple sclerosis. She is collaborating with neuroscientist Shirley E. Poduslo, who is studying the gene’s role in Alzheimer’s disease.
  • The MCG Department of Physical Therapy participated in a National Institutes of Health-funded study to assess older adults’ gait, balance and other indicators of impaired mobility.
  • A telemedicine center created with extensive input from the MCG Center for Telehealth opened in the Russian city of Sarov.

January 13, 2003