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G. Lombard Kelly, M.D.
In
1934, Dr. Kelly was made acting dean of the institution, which had
been redesignated as the School of Medicine of the University of
Georgia, and in 1935 he was appointed dean. In 1950, the
school was separated from the University of Georgia as an
independent unit of the University System of Georgia and reverted to its
earlier name as the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Kelly
became its first president. In addition to his duties as dean and
president, Dr. Kelly continued to teach anatomy and the history of
medicine. On a leave of absence in 1944, he served as
Secretary of the Council on Medical Service and Public Relations of
the American Medical Association from January to June. In
March 1953, Dr. Kelly announced his intention to retire at the end
of the fiscal year in order to devote his time to the practice of
his special field of reproductive physiology. He was the
President Emeritus of the Medical College of Georgia until his death
in 1972.
As an educator and administrator, Dr. Kelly's influence on the life of the Medical College of Georgia was equaled only by that of its founder, Dr. Milton Antony. Upon being appointed acting dean in 1934, Dr. Kelly embarked on twenty years of efforts, not only to save the school from extinction but to put it on a foundation which would assure its continued existence and growth. In 1934, the Class A accreditation rating of the American Medical Association was lost. Dr. Kelly immediately began working to restore that accreditation, obtain financial support and strengthen both the facilities and the faculty of the school. He developed a broad plan for medical education in Georgia which included a state board to administer all state hospitals and infirmaries, rotating internships in state operated hospitals and the development and funding of these facilities so as to provide adequate educational experience as well as excellent patient care. Part of this plan was the establishment of a state owned and controlled teaching hospital in Augusta to replace the use of the city owned and controlled University Hospital. In 1945 a bill was passed in the Georgia Legislature authorizing the regents to build a four hundred bed hospital when funds were available. By 1953, when Dr. Kelly resigned, the start of construction was one month away and the development of the Augusta school into a medical center and health sciences university was begun.
As a scientist, Dr. Kelly was nationally recognized for his research in reproductive physiology. In 1926-1927 on leave of absence from the Medical Department, he served as a research associate in the Department of Anatomy of Cornell University. With his colleague, Dr. George Papanicolaou, he published the first report of this research in the American Journal of Anatomy in 1927. Dr. Kelly continued his research in basic reproductive physiology and applied some of his work to tests for the determination of pregnancy. In 1932 he received the Crawford Long medal for the best original research paper read before the Medical Association of Georgia. Over the next fifteen years, Dr. Kelly contributed articles in this field to national journals of medicine and anatomy.
Special Collections
Last updated: February 2001