Welcome to the Department of Pediatrics!

Greetings! It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia.

The Department and the Children's Medical Center have a long tradition of caring for children. We are proud of the fact that The Wilhenford Children's Hospital opened its doors on our site in 1910 as the South's first dedicated children's hospital. As we prepare for our centennial celebration of caring for children, the current faculty members say that "they feel part of a family." What they like the most about the department are the people, the collegiality and cohesiveness, the energy and friendliness, and the devotion to education. In addition to being first in the South, our children's hospital was recently ranked first in the nation in pediatric quality and safety over a 12 month period according to the First Quarter 2009 University Health System Consortium report that provides rankings based on quality indicators established by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In addition to receiving the No.1 ranking in a composite measure of overall quality, our pediatrics care earned the top spot in seven out of 14 quality measures, ranking higher than 99 other academic children's hospitals.

Our medical school, already the largest in the South, is expanding further to address the projected physician workforce needs in Georgia. MCG medical students consistently rank their pediatric educational experience as No. 1 and, as in years past, a large number of students in the Class of 2010 (30/180) have selected a Pediatrics career. We are proud of the fact that 35 to 40 percent more MCG students enter the field of Pediatrics than the national average. Our research division, the Georgia Prevention Institute, is internationally-renowned for federally-funded programs in hypertension, smoking cessation, and the genetics of obesity. In 1993, we founded Patient Family Centered Care (PFCC) and the Picker Institute recently named our center as one of only six centers nationwide that exemplify PFCC. The central features and processes of PFCC are practiced by our full complement of Board-recognized pediatric sub-specialists and the faculty at the Children's Medical Center serves as a tertiary care resource for our local region and the state of Georgia.

I sincerely hope that you will come and visit the Garden City, Augusta, to enjoy a wonderful "family-friendly" Department and community as well as a number of "Firsts" in our award-winning Children's Medical Center.

All the Best,

Sincerely Yours,

Bernard L. Maria, MD/MBA
Ellington Charles Hawes Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics
Medical Director of the Children's Medical Center
Medical College of Georgia