VALDOSTA – On Thursday, July 18, the Valdosta community and leaders from across Georgia gathered at SGMC Health (formerly South Georgia Medical Center) to celebrate the opening of Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) and SGMC Health’s clinical campus and simulation lab. MUSM has partnered with SGMC Health to establish a clinical campus in Valdosta where third- and fourth-year students will live and work during the final two years of medical school.
SGMC Health President and CEO Ronald E. Dean praised the vision, passion and dedication of SGMC Health’s medical staff and system board of directors for making this innovative collaboration a reality. “Excellence is by design, not by accident,” he said. “And SGMC Health’s team of employees, physicians and volunteers are unwavering in their commitment to excellence in all that we do for the people we serve. Our partnership with Mercer University School of Medicine is about developing a stronger pipeline of physicians who choose to train in South Georgia and, hopefully, stay in South Georgia.”
The Valdosta campus has a dedicated medical education unit located at SGMC Health Main, 2501 N. Patterson St. This site offers all required clinical placements and electives in the third year of the MD program, as well as sub-internships, electives, and required elective rotations in the fourth year.
Because SGMC Health’s service area spans 15 counties, many of which are rural, this partnership will further the School of Medicine’s mission by adding more rural clinical experiences during clinical and post-clinical training. The first group of 17 third-year medical students moved to Valdosta from MUSM’s Columbus, Macon and Savannah campuses and began their clinical training last week.
“We are unwavering in our mission to serve rural Georgia,” said MUSM Dean Jean Sumner, M.D., FACP. “We are here to serve areas of our state that need help, and we are honored to have SGMC Health as a partner. The hospital has a compassionate and caring ethos that will give our students the opportunity to receive quality health care in a rural community.”
Mercer University only accepts Georgia residents and prioritizes students from rural areas. Opening a clinical site in Valdosta will expand the university’s reach to a critically underserved area. Students will receive training at SGMC Health as well as other area facilities.
In addition to Dean and Sumner, the event also featured speakers Joseph Hayes, MD, associate dean for the Valdosta campus, and Sam Allen, chairman of the board of directors for SGMC Health.
Dr. Hayes recognized the directors of clinical training who guide the curriculum and rotations: Meghan Gallagher, MD (Internal Medicine), Brian Griner, MD (Pediatrics), Anthony Johnson, MD (Family Medicine), Paresh Sanki, MD (Psychiatry), Ene Grace Morgan, MD (Obstetrics and Gynecology), and James Davis, MD (Surgery).
The event included a guided tour and demonstration of the newly constructed medical simulation center, which will provide on-site medical practice activities, including standardized patient encounters. The simulation center will also offer interdisciplinary training sessions in partnership with nearby Valdosta State University’s health professions program.
About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah, Columbus, Valdosta)
Mercer University School of Medicine was founded in 1982 to educate physicians and medical professionals who meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and underserved areas of Georgia. Currently, more than 60% of graduates practice in Georgia, with more than 80% of them in rural and underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-solving medical education program that provides early patient care experience. This academic environment fosters early development of clinical problem solving and instills in each student an appreciation of the place of basic medicine in the medical field. The school opened additional four-year MD campuses in Savannah in 2008 and Columbus in 2021, and a clinical campus in Valdosta in 2024. From the second year onwards, students participate in core clinical practicums at the school’s main teaching hospitals, Atrium Health Navicent the Medical Center in Macon and Piedmont Macon Medical Center. Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, and SGMC Health in Valdosta. The school also offers master’s degrees in preclinical sciences and family therapy, and doctoral degrees in biomedical and rural health sciences.
About SGMC Health
SGMC Health is South Georgia’s most comprehensive health care system. With more than 3,100 employees serving 400,000 patients annually across 15 counties, SGMC operates four hospitals (Maine, Smith Northview, Burien and Lanier) and numerous primary care and specialty facilities. Regionally renowned service lines include cardiovascular, stroke, trauma, cancer, orthopedics, surgery and women’s and pediatrics. The SGMC Health system generates an annual economic impact of $1 billion and supports 10,000 jobs throughout the areas it serves. SGMC Health is committed to the continuous development of its employees, programs, services and facilities to fulfill its mission of improving the lives of all it serves.
