StaffFrom the President, MCG Alumni Association
One of my first duties as President of the MCG Alumni Association this year in April was to attend the annual reunion dinner. It was a great night going from room to room with Dean Hess, meeting all the reunion classes and catching up with many friends. The following morning on Sunday, I had the honor of participating in the memorial service for all our colleagues who had passed away in the last year. As the chaplain read a short biographical sketch about each of those we lost, I was overwhelmed with the accomplishments and contributions that each of these MCG alumni had made to medicine, their families, their faiths and their communities. I knew some of them personally. Dr. Spencer Mullins had cared for me and my family as I grew up in Marietta. Dr. Lois Ellison was a mentor and fellow volunteer for the American Lung Association for decades. In fact, one of my prized mementoes is the Lois Ellison Volunteer of the Year Award I received in 1992 from the local branch of the ALA. Who will replace all these heroes from MCG I thought? I began to lament this huge loss in our talent and institutional knowledge.
Sure, we have a great president of Augusta University and an outstanding dean of the medical school. We have tremendous faculty who will keep MCG students well trained. We have wonderful staff who will keep the day to day operations for the institution humming along. Their steady hands will keep MCG strong. But who will keep up with the honor and traditions we all hold dear?
My question was soon answered when I had the great pleasure of attending the freshman receptions in Augusta and Athens. I was blown away as I read the bios of these incoming students.
Already they had achieved great things in their lives both academically and personally. I was impressed that they were not only smart they were socially adept, friendly and outgoing. I began to think how grateful I was that I did not have to compete with them for entrance to MCG when I started in 1978. Many came up to me to ask about my experiences as a student and the history of MCG. It was clear they already had great respect for the history and traditions of MCG. I soon realized that MCG would be in great shape for the foreseeable future with such talent in our school.
These future alumni will keep MCG in good hands. They will do great things!
God bless Augusta University and God bless the Medical College of Georgia.
Lynne Brannen, MD, MBA
MCG Class of 1982,
Augusta University Class of 2002
PS: I am told there are about 6,000 existing MCG alumni but only a small fraction are active members of the Alumni Association. We have about 700 lifetime members who have contributed to our scholarship endowment. This year we were able to increase our scholarship budget by over 70% from these funds but we would love to do much more. We are able to help only a small fraction of students with the tremendous cost of their training. We need to do more if we want these future alumni to flourish. Please join me in taking a minute to send in $50 for an Alumni Association membership or better yet $1,000 for our Lifetime Scholarship endowment.
