Athens, Ga. – University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr., Medical College of Georgia President Ricardo Azziz and University of Georgia President Michael F. Adams will address reporters at 3 p.m. on Aug. 9, the inaugural day of classes at the campus of the MCG/UGA Medical Partnership.
The news conference, which will be held in the conference room of the Interim Medical Partnership Building at 279 Williams Street in Athens, will be followed by a 4 p.m. dedication ceremony outside the building that will include comments by Governor Sonny Perdue.
Additional participants in the media briefing include Dr. Douglas Miller, dean of the MCG School of Medicine and MCG senior vice president for health affairs; Jere Morehead, UGA senior vice president for academic affairs and provost; and Dr. Barbara Schuster, campus dean of the MCG/UGA Medical Partnership.
In addition to Perdue, Davis, Azziz and Adams, additional participants in the dedication ceremony include James A. Bishop, chair of the Medical Education Expansion Committee of the Board of Regents; and MCG/UGA Medical Partnership Student Justin Brooten of Atlanta.
The MCG/UGA Medical Partnership features a four-year medical education program in Athens created to help alleviate a statewide shortage of physicians. The inaugural class consists of 40 MCG students who will study basic science and clinical skills in a program that mirrors the curriculum at the Augusta campus. By 2020, the Partnership is expected to educate 60 students per year in Athens.
The campus is part of an overall plan to increase the MCG School of Medicine’s class size from 190 to 300 students by 2020 to help meet the need for physicians in a state that ranks in the top 10 both in population and population growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
For more information on the MCG/UGA Medical Partnership, see www.medicalpartnership.usg.edu.
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High-resolution photos for download: http://medicalpartnership.usg.edu/gallery/
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