Athens’ St. Mary’s Health Care System teams with GRU/UGA Medical
Partnership to train the next generation of internists
The Program. GRU/UGA Medical Partnership, a collaborative
effort between Georgia Regents University and the University
of Georgia, has taken a big step towards addressing the critical
shortage of physicians in Georgia through the creation of The
Internal Medicine Residency Program along with St. Mary’s
Health Care System. Applicants to the program were recently
matched and the first accepted class will begin their residency
education in Athens on July 1, 2015.
importance of educating and training additional physicians and
encouraging them to stay and practice in our state.
The Difference-Makers. The inaugural class for Athens internal
medicine residency has a strong connection with Georgia. Five
of the ten selected individuals attended the University of
Georgia for their undergraduate degrees, and one is a “Double
Dawg” who also received his graduate degree through the
“Being the site of the first medical residency program in Medical Partnership Class, graduating in 2015. Others accepted
Northeast Georgia is a tremendous honor for St. Mary’s,” said have ties to Emory and Georgia Tech and other southeastern
Bruce Middendorf, M.D., St. Mary’s Chief Medical Officer. schools.
“Residents bring new energy and enthusiasm into our clinical
“We are very pleased that in the first year of our joint
areas. At the same time, working with these new physicians is
residency program, all 10 available positions have been filled,”
exciting for our medical staff. We are looking forward to
said Don McKenna, St. Mary’s President and CEO. “To me, this
welcoming our first-ever residents and to working with them to
speaks volumes about the attractiveness of our new program
further raise the bar for clinical excellence at St. Mary’s and
to the next generation of physicians. We are proud to be an
across Northeast Georgia. This is a great day for our
integral part of this effort to bring more medical doctors to
community.”
Georgia and to the Athens region in particular.”
Residents are physicians who have completed medical school
and are ready to begin a supervised training period which leads
to medical licensure. This group of physicians will complete a
three-year Internal Medicine residency at St. Mary’s, practicing
alongside experienced doctors to gain sophisticated
knowledge, skills, and experience in their chosen field. Internal
Medicine residents focus specifically on the prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of disease in adults.
Economic Impact of the Program. A 2008 report to Georgia’s
Board of Regents found that our state would face a shortage of
2,500 physicians by the year 2020 if capacity for medical school
students and residents were not expanded. A physician
shortage affects more than just the quality of healthcare
available to citizens – it also adversely affects the local and
state economy. Researchers at UGA’s Carl Vincent Institute of
Government found that the average private physician practice
provides 13 jobs, $640,000 in personal income for those jobs,
and a total economic impact of $1.5 million. Using University
of Georgia’s trademarked modeling system to estimate the
economic impact of increasing the number of trained
physicians by 500 a year beginning in 2016, they determined an
increase in economic output of about 8.6%, without a
measureable effect on the average amount of economic
activity generated per physician. These findings underscore the
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“It is a compliment to the community of Athens and the area
physicians that so many applications were filed, and our team
worked hard to identify individuals who would be the best fit
for this program. These 10 individuals will help address the
need for more physicians in the State of Georgia” said Michelle
A. Nuss, M.D., Campus Associate Dean for GME at the GRU/
UGA Medical Partnership.
These residents will arrive in Athens on June 24, 2015, for
orientation and will begin work in the hospital on July 1, 2015.
The internal medicine residency program can accommodate 10
residents in the inaugural year, with another 10 in 2016 and 10
more in 2017 for a maximum of 30 residents total.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT www.AthensBusiness.org 706-613-3233
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