Brooks KeelAs we begin each academic year, I am always invigorated by the continued growth at the Medical College of Georgia. We should always strive to be better, and I am confident that MCG’s progress will continue into the 2023-24 academic year. In recent years, numerous resources have been invested in this institution, demonstrating a continued commitment by local, state and federal lawmakers, as well as our alumni, to our number one priority: our students and patients. As we continue to grow, both with new campuses throughout the state and with new academic programs and research, the continued support of resources is paramount.
One of the more noteworthy investments we are looking forward to is our new partnership with Wellstar Health System. As our two organizations worked together over the past year to reach this agreement, the rationale for this partnership has only grown stronger — to enable our health system to thrive in today’s challenging health care environment and to extend our mission of improving health for all Georgians through excellence in patient care, education and research.
Our partnership with Wellstar will ensure that academic medicine continues to influence health care in Augusta and the surrounding region, increase the number of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals we are able to train, and make substantial investments in our health care facilities and new technologies to provide care in more convenient settings for patients across Georgia.
We are facing a crisis-level physician shortage throughout the nation, and the lack of health care providers in rural settings is especially acute. We want every Georgian, no matter where they live, to have access to high-quality health care provided by well-trained physicians. To that end, we are extremely grateful for the investment of $2 million in federal funding as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 funding bill that U.S. Rep. Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) helped secure for the Southwest Campus in Albany.
We share Congressman Bishop’s commitment to Southwest Georgia and know how important it is to ensure this area has enough physicians to serve patients in the area. This funding will help to establish a primary care training hub on MCG’s Southwest Campus, allowing us to continue training physicians who are dedicated to meeting the health care needs of Georgia and to helping decrease health disparities in some of the state’s most underserved areas, both now and into the future.
As we continue to look at new ways to aid physicians in caring for patients in rural areas, telemedicine has become a powerful tool to help physicians and other clinicians reach underserved populations. Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (GA-01) secured $1 million in federal funding to support the recently established Medical College of Georgia Center for Telehealth.
We are proud of this next phase of our mission, and we expect this expansion of the MCG Center for Telehealth to help improve health care outcomes throughout the state for many years to come. The center focuses on training future physicians and preparing them to provide telehealth-related patient care. It also will work with health care providers and facilities across the state to connect them to the expertise of the state’s only public medical school and its teaching hospitals.
I also want to commend our Augusta University Government Relations team for helping secure $105 million this budget year for a much-needed upgrade to our electronic health records system. On the surface, this may sound like it impacts only our patients and physicians, but it has a positive impact on our students as well. As we prepare to send our health sciences students out into the workforce, they need to have access to state-of-the-art technology, including working with the most updated technology for health system records.
Everything we do at this institution is based on providing our students with state-of-the-art education and training opportunities in Augusta and beyond. That’s what drives this university, and it is shown in the growth we have seen in the number of degrees awarded each year. We are incredibly proud of what the Medical College of Georgia has accomplished.
The future is extremely bright at MCG, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for the next decade — because there is great opportunity awaiting us. I am thrilled to be leading our university into the future. With the support of those who love MCG, anything is possible.
Sincerely,
Brooks Keel, PhD
President, Augusta University
