NEWS - Health & Hospitals

July 11, 2011 - The brand new home for Georgia Health Sciences University students was unveiled at Candler Hospital in June, and the first group of seven medical students is already ensconced in classes this week.

"As Georgia's population increases and ages at the same time, so does the demand for healthcare and healthcare professionals,” according to Paul P. Hinchey, president & CEO of St. Joseph's/Candler. “St. Joseph’s/Candler is committed to playing our part in meeting this challenge.

"Our friends at the Georgia Health Sciences University had tremendous foresight to head off a looming physician shortage by expanding across the state. It is our hope that these new doctors will locate here after graduation and be a boon to Savannah's residents and economy.”

He said this program would have never taken flight if it weren’t for the physicians who are volunteering their time to teach the students.

"We appreciate St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System and the physicians of Southeast Georgia who are eager to educate the next generation of doctors,” said Dr. Ricardo Azziz, President of Georgia Health Sciences University. "This renovated space, which provides a permanent home for our Southeast Georgia Clinical Campus, is another example of their commitment to helping us better meet Georgia’s physician shortage.”

Georgia is facing a shortage of doctors and the Georgia Health Sciences University stepped up to expand their campuses around the state. Since 2007, students from the Medical College of Georgia, part of Georgia Health Sciences University, have been doing 4- to 6-week clinical rotations at St. Joseph’s/Candler before moving on to other hospitals in the state. MCG has also increased its total student enrollment as of the 2010-2011 entering class of freshman at the State’s medical college in Augusta, with a satellite campus now operating in Athens with 40 students this year.

The Southeast campus wasn’t supposed to open for year-round students until next year. But seven students approached the school about opening a year early.

They will start in July, paving the way for a full complement of 20 year-round students in 2012.

Students will have the opportunity to learn from more than 150 volunteer clinical faculty members all over southeast Georgia – a number that continues to grow, according to Hinchy.

The new classroom space

The new, 1,600-square-foot space will be a permanent home for the Georgia Health Sciences University students, featuring classroom space, meeting rooms, a sleep room and office space for Kathryn Martin, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Southeast Georgia Campus.

Students will be able to meet together, video conference with other campuses, listen to professors and visiting professors, take tests and maximize their participation with their colleagues on other campuses.

For physicians, the new space will allow them to connect with researchers at the Augusta campus and receive continuing education, which is a requirement to keep their medical licenses.

The initial seven students are Eric Gordon, Patrick Grace and Russell Kirks of Savannah; Chris Blakely of Peachtree City; Desiree Brooks of Anchorage, Alaska; Kevin Goelz, of Athens; and Aaron Winn, of Kennesaw.

St. Joseph's/Candler gives students extensive hands-on experience through rotations in internal medicine, surgery, OB/GYN, emergency medicine, neurology and psychiatry.