MCG Medicine Spring 2014 by Augusta University

MCG SPRING 2014

at Georgia Regents University

Our New Home New Building Holds Key to Progress

MCG

MeDicine SPRING 2014

MCG Medicine is produced biannually by the Georgia Regents University Office of Communications and Marketing with financial support from the Medical College of Georgia at GRU.

Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University

11 Our New Home

New Building Holds Key to Progress Blowing Students’ Socks Off............... 25 Renovated Anatomy Labs to Complement Education Commons

TLC...................................................................................... 29 Alum’s Concierge Practice Offers Personal Touch

Turning Point......................................................... 35 MCG Education Launched Lifelong Smiles for MAG President

Team Effort............................................................. 43 Athens Students Honored for Community Partnerships

DREAM Job.................................................................. 47 MCG Faculty Oversee Repository Ensuring Tests are Tested DEPARTMENTS

Appointments

News at a Glance

Newsmakers

Research Roundup

Faculty Spotlight:

Classnotes

Dr. Michael Madaio

MATCH DAY 2014 Over 97 percent of MCG seniors – higher than the national average – were successfully matched with residency programs during Match Day on March 21. This year’s theme, Childhood Dreams, captured the whimsy, wonder, and wow factor of the event.

Dean: Peter F. Buckley, MD Chief of Staff: Jeanette Balotin GRU Senior Vice President, Office of Communications and Marketing: David Brond Executive Editor: Toni Baker Senior Editor: Christine Hurley Deriso

DESIGN & PRODUCTION P.J. Hayes Design

PHOTOGRAPHY Senior Photographer: Phil Jones

The Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran status, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation in its programs and activities as required by Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other application statutes and university policies.

gru.edu/mcg ÂŠ 2014 GEORGIA REGENTS UNIVERSITY

From the Dean Many of us have had the privilege and pain of renovating or building a home. While the process isn’t always a barrel of laughs, when planned well, the results are super. We have a comfortable, functional, and beautiful space where family and friends will want to gather for years to come. This fall, our medical school moves into its new academic home, the first real home we’ve had in quite a while. Like all great homes, this one was conceived with great passion and purpose. The name really says it all: The J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons. We hope all of you know by now that Dr. Harrison was a 1948 graduate of your medical school, an exceedingly accomplished vascular surgeon and cattle farmer who never, ever forgot the opportunity the state’s public medical school would offer the son of a farmer, mule trader, and cow dealer from Kite, Ga. The late Dr. Harrison was known to say that he wanted to give other students the same chance MCG gave him. Boy, has he. First, he and his wife, Sue, gave a $10 million gift and he lent his prestigous name to our beautiful new building. Then, they gave another remarkable $66 million gift for student scholarship and faculty endowed chairs. We can hardly imagine the excitement and wonder that will abound this fall when our students enter the new home he helped build

for them and our first Harrison Scholars are among them! Like any good home, this one will be shared. Our colleagues in dentistry, nursing, and allied health will be with us and everyone will derive a collective benefit from learning in much the same collegial manner that we practice as a health care team. We so hope that the cover story of this issue of our magazine will give you at least a taste of our glorious new J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons and of the excitement that lies ahead for your medical school. In this issue, you also will read about Dr. Brian Thornburg, who is providing perhaps the ultimate medical home for his pediatric patients by using his guest house for his practice. Dr. Thornburg, who completed his residency here, is an early star in concierge medicine, recently honored as one of Parents Magazine’s Seven Most Innovative Pediatricians in the Country. Then there’s our Chairman of Medicine, Dr. Mike Madaio, the consummate mentor who likes helping people and programs grow and is himself a fascinating combination of passion, calm, and accomplishment. And, Dr. William E. Silver, who recently took the reins of the Medical Association of Georgia. Like Dr. Madaio, this 1963 MCG graduate works hard and successfully every day to make life better for patients and fellow physicians. You’ll also learn more about some of our “Shining Stars” at the partnership campus in Athens. I so hope you never tire of hearing me say how proud I am of your medical school and how privileged I am to help lead it. With so many stories like these to tell, who could feel any differently? My best to you always. n

PETER F. BUCKLEY, MD 706-721-2231 mcgdean@gru.edu

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Appointments Dr. Alvin V. Terry Jr., (right) Regents’ Professor and Director of the GRU Small Animal Behavior Core, has been named Chairman of the MCG Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. “Dr. Terry is a tremendous ambassador and leader in our medical school and his profession, and we are very pleased that he has assumed this new leadership role,” said MCG Dean Peter F. Buckley. “Dr. Terry routinely lends his expertise to essential academic issues such as promotion and tenure and lab animal services, and lends his enthusiasm to educating the next generation of physicians and scientists and to finding better ways to treat common and devastating disorders of memory function. “We also must again thank Dr. William Caldwell for his stalwart leadership of the department for nearly 30 years and for his continuing commitment to discovery and education,” Buckley said. Terry, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, has served on numerous study sections of the National Institutes of Health, and two Veterans Affairs Special Emphasis Panels on research of Gulf War illness in veterans. He has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Environmental Protection Agency Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act examining the health effects of the pesticide chlorpyrifos and as a pharmaceutical company consultant. The federally funded pharmacologist joined the MCG faculty in 1992 after completing his training and joined the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy faculty in 1994. He directed UGA’s Graduate Program in Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics from 1999-2005, began a joint appointment at MCG in 2003, and rejoined the MCG faculty full time two years later. Terry researches the role of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in memory dysfunction, including the impact of pharmaceutical and toxicological agents, such as chemical warfare agents. His lab also focuses on drug discovery and development strategies for illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. He earned his doctorate in pharmacology at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and completed his postdoctoral training at GRU.

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Dr. Todd Burgbacher, who completed his emergency medicine residency at MCG in 2012, has returned after completing an Emergency Medical Services fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to oversee emergency medical services. He joins Gold Cross EMS and the Augusta Fire Department at accident and disaster scenes, arriving in a fully equipped emergency response vehicle. He also serves as Assistant Medical Director of Gold Cross and is Medical Director for the air ambulance service, AirMed Augusta.

Dr. Kevin C. Dellsperger, formerly Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Outcomes at the University of Missouri, joined Georgia Regents Medical Center in November as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President. He is also the MCG Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs. He researches coronary and pulmonary arterial and microvascular function. Dr. Nevin Lambert, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, has been named Director of the University System of Georgia’s MD/PhD Program at GRU. Dr. Lawrence C. Layman, who holds the MCG Robert B. Greenblatt Chair in Endocrinology and is Chief of the Section of Reproductive Endocrinology, Infertility and Genetics in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is Co-Director. Students, who earn both medical and PhD degrees, attend MCG while completing research training at one of four research universities in the university system.

News

at a Glance

freshmen marked the beginning of their medical careers at the college’s annual White Coat Ceremony Oct. 12. Two hundred and thirty students participated in the ceremony symbolizing students’ transition toward the practice of medicine. Dr. Stan Nahman, recipient of the 2013 Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, was the guest speaker. Six physicians from the Chinese province of Jiangsu recently spent four weeks observing MCG physicians as part the university’s initiative to strengthen international partnerships. The observership program is a part of a memorandum of understanding between GRU and the Jiangsu Province Department of Health to foster exchange and collaboration in the health sciences, according to Dr. Walter Moore, MCG Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and Veterans Affairs, who helped coordinate the visit. Officials from the Korean Ministry of Health visited GRU in September to learn more about disaster preparedness, including nuclear attacks. The visit was part of an initiative to optimize the country’s preparedness for manmade and natural disasters, said Dr. Phillip Coule, Vice Chairman of Business Development in the MCG Department of Emergency Medicine and Hospitalist Services. “South Korea is a strong partner in the increasingly global initiative to maximize response to and recovery from natural and manmade disasters,” Coule said. MD/PhD students sorted and inventoried surplus medical supplies last fall, donating some to MedShare, a nonprofit organization that redistributes medical supplies and equipment to underserved health care facilities in developing countries. Others were sent to local clinics in need of supplies. students provided free health screenings for parents and students at Augusta’s Murphy Middle School last fall. The health fair was organized by the MCG Chapter of the Student National Medical Association. Participants also received dental screenings and were invited to register for the National Bone Marrow Registry.

GR Health System has begun offering fecal transplants to rapidly restore the healthy flora to patients whose antibiotic use wipes out the healthy bacteria in the colon. Those bacteria are essential to digesting complex carbohydrates. “For a select number of patients, there is no question that this is the best therapy available today,” said Dr. Satish S.C. Rao (above), Chief of the MCG Section of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and founding Director of the GR Health Digestive Health Center. “The results are absolutely dramatic. Patients who have been sick in the hospital for weeks literally wake up the next day and walk out of the hospital with a normal bowel habit.”

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GRU has patented an inexpensive technique to remotely monitor heart and respiration rates day or night. The method—pairing a video camera with complex algorithms—could enable rapid detection of conditions including heart attack, stroke, or infant distress, according to a study published in the journal, PLOS ONE. “Our algorithms enable us to rapidly and accurately translate, for example, normally imperceptible skin movement in rhythm with breathing into an accurate measure of respiration rate,” said Dr. Joe Tsien, an MCG neuroscientist who oversaw development of the algorithms to complement his studies measuring brain patterns during memory formation. Scientists at MCG and China’s BanNa Biomedical Research Institute are working to see if the approach can also accurately measure blood pressure. A new community program is targeting substance abuse and mental health problems that increase the risk of HIV infection or spreading the virus. SHE PREVAILS, funded by a three-year, $1.6 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, begins with screenings in community centers in predominantly AfricanAmerican communities, said Dr. Lara Stepleman, an MCG psychologist and the program’s Director. “We want to help women become empowered to take care of their sexual health,” Stepleman said. “The idea is to help reduce HIV spread.” Screening and referral will occur for 1,600 women in 15 nearby counties. Then, 280 women whose problems include substance abuse will receive a six-month comprehensive follow-up that guides them through effective treatment.

GRU students honored the university’s body donors during a Nov. 15 ceremony on campus featuring student and faculty perspectives on the donors’ impact on education. “Students will always remember their donor as their first patient,” said David Adams, Coordinator of Anatomical Donation Services. “What the donors ‘teach’ students is better than any textbook. The students have a tremendous appreciation for that.” For more information about body donation, see page 25.

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Newsmakers GRU President Ricardo Azziz is an author and editor of “Te Linde’s Atlas of Gynecologic Surgery,” a new textbook that details and illustrates various gynecologic surgical procedures and techniques in gynecology, gynecologic oncology, reproductive surgery, and urogynecology. Azziz specializes in reproductive endocrinology and surgery.

Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, Chief of the Section of Neonatology, has been appointed a Guest Professor at Northwest Women and Children’s Hospital in Xi’an, China. Bhatia, who is also Vice Chairman for Clinical Research in the Department of Pediatrics, also is an Honorary Professor of ZhengZhou Children’s Hospital in ZhengZhou City, China, an honorary consultant to the Division of Neonatology at The Philippine Children’s Medical Center, an honorary member of the Perinatal Association of the Philippines Inc., and an honoree of The Philippine Pediatric Society.

James G. Blanchard Jr., the

Dr. William K. Dolen, Interim Chief

Eighth Superior Court Judge for the Augusta Judicial Circuit, has received the 2013 Community Partner Award from the MCG Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. Blanchard, who also presides over Drug Court and Mental Health Court in the Augusta Judicial District of Burke, Columbia, and Richmond counties, was honored for addressing the needs of individuals who come into the legal system with mental illness and substance abuse problems.

of the Section of Allergy-Immunology and Rheumatology, has been elected Chairman of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education’s Residency Review Committee for Allergy and Immunology. He will serve a three-year term overseeing standards for training programs in the specialty of allergy and immunology.

MCG Dean Peter F. Buckley has been named to the Executive Committee of the International Congress of Schizophrenia Research. The committee helps coordinate the International Congress, a biennial meeting of scientists involved in schizophrenia research. Buckley researches schizophrenia neurobiology and treatment, including the genetics of schizophrenia, the psycho-pharmacology of relapse, and cognitive retraining to improve focus and function.

Dr. Gregory Harshfield, Director of the Georgia Prevention Center, and Dr. Xiaoling Wang, genetic epidemiologist at the center, are contributors to the third edition of the textbook, Pediatric Hypertension.

Dr. William P. Kanto Jr., Special Assistant/Strategic Partnerships at GRU, has received the 2013 Leila Denmark Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The award is named for Dr. Leila D. Denmark, whose pioneering work in medicine and pediatrics spanned seven decades. Denmark, who died in 2012 at age 114, was an alumna of MCG, where Kanto joined the pediatrics faculty in 1974.

Dr. David Terris, Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, has co-edited a comprehensive textbook for endocrine surgeons, “Minimally Invasive and Robotic Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery.”

Dr. Lin Mei, Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Mei, a neuroscientist, is among 388 association members selected for the honor in 2013 by their peers. His recent work identified a new cause of the muscle-weakening disease, myasthenia gravis, and showed that classic schizophrenia symptoms can be eliminated in an animal model.

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Dr. Jose A. Vazquez, Chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases, participated in a panel discussing antibiotic resistance recently at the International Union of Microbiological Societies Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Havana.

Dr. R. Clinton Webb, Chairman of the Department of Physiology, has received the 2013 American Heart Association Council on High Blood Pressure Research’s Irvine Page-Alva Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award. Webb studies blood vessel contraction in hypertension.

Dr. Neal L. Weintraub, a cardiologist, federally funded researcher, and biotech entrepreneur, has been named an Eminent Scholar of the Georgia Research Alliance. The GRA Eminent Scholar® position is in association with the Herbert S. Kupperman Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Science. Weintraub, Associate Director of MCG’s Vascular Biology Center, came to MCG from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

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Dr. Leonard Reeves, Assistant Dean of MCG’s Northwest Clinical Campus in Rome, has been elected Chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Commission on Continuing Professional Development. Reeves previously chaired the group’s subcommittee and planned the academy’s 2013 Annual Scientific Assembly, which drew more than 10,000 participants.

Research Roundup It Takes Two GRU researchers have learned that the chemically reactive molecules implicated in diabetic retinopathy must come from both the bone marrow and retinal cells themselves to cause such serious consequences. The potentially blinding condition results when the retina is bombarded by reactive oxygen species, destroying healthy blood vessels and forming leaky new ones. “It’s a cascade that requires two players to signal the next event that causes the damage,” said Dr. Ruth Caldwell, an MCG cell biologist.

The good news is the finding also provides two new points for intervention. Excess glucose in the blood prompts excess production of reactive oxygen species, or ROS, and the light-sensitive retina is particularly vulnerable. Caldwell’s research team had previously documented that ROS from white blood cells produced by the bone marrow as well as from retinal cells are the major instigators of diabetic retinopathy. But they weren’t sure which mattered most. So they looked at several different scenarios, including mice lacking the ability to produce ROS by either the retinal or white blood cells, and found that if either were lacking, future damage was essentially eliminated. “One can’t do it alone,” said Caldwell, corresponding author of the study in PLOS ONE. “They did not develop the early signs of diabetic retinopathy that we were measuring.” Next steps include studying potential new treatments in animal models and learning more about how ROS causes the collateral damage that can destroy vision. “All of this is some sort of wound-healing response gone wrong,” Caldwell said. n

About-Face A well-documented immunity suppressor used by fetuses and tumors alike just may be able to change its spots, researchers report. In the face of, for instance, a significant bacterial infection, indoleamine 2,3-dioxegenase, or IDO, also appears capable of helping key immune cells called macrophages produce inflammation to destroy the invader, said Dr. Tracy L. McGaha (below, right), an MCG immunologist. The surprising finding points toward new therapeutic targets when inflammation goes overboard. IDO’s upregulation in macrophages helps these immune cells make important decisions about whether to ignore or attack. McGaha and others also are showing that macrophages, welldocumented garbage consumers in the body, have this larger role as well as a driver of the immune response. McGaha and his colleagues found that the number of IDO-expressing macrophages increased when they added a piece of a bacterial cell wall to prompt an inflammatory reaction, which seemed counterintuitive considering IDO’s role as a suppressor, McGaha said.

That’s how they learned IDO actually does both. IDO degrades tryptophan, an essential amino acid, producing a stress response in the now-starving cell that prompts an increase in kinase GCN2. This essentially shuts down protein production and cell activity — unless there is another stressor, which is what happened when the researchers added the bacterial cell wall. In this infection model, high levels of GCN2 appear instead to nudge macrophages to make more proinflammatory mediators, resulting in rampant inflammation in mice. In this environment, gene activity goes up to the point that the previously sluggish protein production is revived. “The overall affect is more inflammation,” McGaha said. And that’s where potential new therapies for selectively blocking inflammation surfaced. When they knocked out GCN2, severe inflammation decreased and survival increased in animal models of septicemia. McGaha hopes the laboratory findings will eventually translate to hospital intensive care units. n

MCG medicine

Chink in the Armor

Salt Overload U.S. teens’ typical highsodium diet correlates with fatness and inflammation, regardless of how many calories they consume, researchers report. In a study of 766 healthy teens, 97 percent self-reported exceeding the American Heart Association’s recommendation of consuming less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium daily, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. “Most studies in humans show the more food you eat, the more salt you consume, the fatter you are,” said Dr. Haidong Zhu, an MCG molecular geneticist. “Our study adjusted for what these young people ate and drank, and there was still a correlation between salt intake and obesity.” These high-sodium consumers also had high levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha, which is secreted by immune cells and contributes to chronic inflammation as well as autoimmune diseases such as lupus and arthritis. Additionally, the adolescents had high levels of leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that normally suppresses the appetite and burns fat, but at high levels can have the opposite effects. The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. n

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Scientists want to make a chink in the armor of the number-one bacterial cause of the diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain Americans experience annually. Infection with Campylobacter jejuni is at least 25 times more common than salmonella, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chickens and other birds are a major source for both, and antibiotic resistance impedes treatment, said Dr. Stuart A. Thompson, an MCG microbiologist. “We are looking for a way to make Campylobacter more vulnerable,” said Thompson, whose $1.5 When Thompson’s research team removes CsrA, million grant from the National Campylobacter struggles to move and make biofilm. Institutes of The crux may be the tail, called the flagellum, which Health will help him learn more enables movement of the comma-shaped bacterium. about the film The sticky tails also enable bacteria to stick that helps protect Campylobacter. together, which is when they start making sugar and, It’s called eventually, biofilm, so they can survive. biofilm, a slimy sugar coating made by bacteria identify the primary sugar Campylobacter and fungi that coats teeth overnight and uses to make biofilm. The new grant will help leaves a pink ring in rarely used toilets. him analyze the biochemical pathway used Biofilm is likely super-attractive to bacteria, to make the sugar and look at CsrA’s role which use it to deal with excess oxygen or to in regulating that biochemical process. He huddle and hibernate when nutrition is scarce. believes it’s substantial. It’s also hard for antibiotics to penetrate. “We are trying to figure out how CsrA Thompson wants to know the primary regulates motility and, ultimately, biofilm sugar Campylobacter uses to make its biofilm formation,” Thomson said. n and how the regulatory protein, CsrA, helps.

He is working with the University of Georgia Complex Carbohydrate Research Center to

MCG medicine

Our New

Home New Building Holds Key to Progress

BY TONI BAKER

Construction Progress

PHotos: Phil Jones and Sally Kolar

art of the first-floor ceiling reaches upward more than 30 feet, while oval walls help maintain a sense of coziness. Glass, brick, and aluminum walls let in ample natural light while technology funnels in the knowledge of the world. LEED Silver certification ensures the well-being of occupants as well as the environment. Powerful ceiling beams preclude the need for obtrusive columns. Ample, comfortable seating provides natural gathering spots for conversation and quiet reflection. The places where the most people will gather have room for a growing cohort. The November 2012 day when ground was broken on the J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons, Medical College of Georgia Class of 2015 President Lael Reinstatler became the first to characterize, at least publicly, the three-story, 177,597-square-foot facility as a home. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of all the things that we are thankful for most, finally having a home is what matters most,â&#x20AC;? she said.

June 4, 2013

A Lot of Joy Daniel Merrell (below) has spent most of his professional life building hospitals, including Winnie Palmer Hospital in Orlando, Fla., where his children were born. Like the pictures of his family, their beautiful facades bring a sense of style to Merrell’s Senior Facilities Project Manager office at Georgia Regents University. The son of a brick mason who has always worked in construction, Merrell still laughs about not realizing there even was a construction degree until he got to Clemson University. There, he learned a construction and science management degree is the study of how buildings come together and that his job begins the first day a shovel goes into the ground. “I love my profession,” he says of his unabashed delight at bringing life to an architect’s plan. “It’s always new. There is always a sense of joy. It’s like giving somebody a gift every time you finish a project.” While he won’t be handing over any keys until the fall, Merrell got a sneak peek at the emotion the J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons will bring the day he took a handful of students around the still mega-busy construction site. “That gave me a lot of joy to see the comfort that it gave them,” he says. Merrell’s very first academic building

300 Seat Classroom

will be a gleaming hub for MCG’s educational programs and a high-tech melting pot for interprofessional health sciences education at GRU. “That person you meet in the Ed Commons, you could be working with in five or 10 years,” says Class of 2017 President Katherine Menezes (right), who is excited about being at MCG period, never mind the opportunity to soon learn in such an eclectic and open environment.

A Multidisciplinary Approach “I want us to be known for embracing all aspects of our community, for knowing [people from] other disciplines, for caring about other disciplines, interacting with them,” says the energetic class leader, inspired to be a physician by parents Christina and Stanley Menezes, who embraced super-healthy lifestyles after the death of her uncle at age 22 from a brain tumor. Katherine, who could dissect a food label by age 10, likes the idea that, unlike in the current large lecture hall where even a handful of medical illustration students can’t find a seat when they come to anatomy lecture, room will soon be available for her medical illustration peers and more. “I think that is what excited Harold,” says Scott Fitzgerald, stepson of the man for whom the building is named. “In his mind, he could

300-seat classroom

MCG medicine hok.com

actually see all the students coming together, working together to better the medical community all in the same place.” Those, like Fitzgerald, who knew the famed vascular surgeon and cattle farmer well also know he wasn’t much for buildings. But Harrison and his wife, Sue, gave a $10 million leadership gift to help create this one. Because those who knew him well also know that Harrison’s humble beginnings as the son of a farmer from Kite, Ga., who got into the state’s public medical school at age 18 and never pulled back, meant he was determined to help other students. “In his mind, he wasn’t putting money into the building, he was putting it in the future of students,” says Fitzgerald. “You look at health care and how it’s practiced, it’s as a team. To train students in the environment they will be working in throughout their professional career just makes sense,” says Dr. T. Andrew Albritton, MCG Senior Associate Dean for Curriculum. In fact, that approach will be mandatory when the Liaison Committee on Medical Education enacts a new standard this summer.

150 Seat Classroom

July 23, 2013

150-seat classroom s p r i ng 2 0 1 4

Flexibility and Efficiency While multidisciplinary opportunities already are happening on campus, the new building is designed to embrace that educational approach, along with growth, technology, and flexibility for the future. Even before he arrived in August 2012 from New York Medical College as MCG’s Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Dr. Paul M. Wallach immersed himself in the opportunity to help optimize space for a medical school that, with a class size of 230, already has the eighth-largest first-year enrollment and 13th-largest total enrollment nationally. With those kinds of numbers, and likely more to come, flexibility and efficiency become not just desirable, but essential. This includes commonsense decisions, like putting the

biggest classrooms on the first floor so hundreds of students aren’t piling onto elevators or climbing stairs at the same time. The building has two 300-seat classrooms, the ones that tower two stories high, as well as two 150-seaters, all both wireless and fully wired. “We need flexible places in education; there is not just one way to do it,” says Wallach. So rather than using traditional tiered seating, one of the 150-seat classrooms has a flat floor that can be reconfigured as tiers but also can accommodate small-group discussion or a disaster drill. In fact, even the tiers are flexible, optimizing visibility from any seat while the floor levels for two adjacent rows are the same level so students can swivel around and talk more intimately, Wallach says. The second floor includes

learning communities with kitchenettes featuring casual as well as conference table seating, and smaller, more private work spaces. The learning communities also feature “couches, everything you want, microwaves, to study late at night,” says Scott Gilleland, a senior who lent his student perspective to the building design.

High-Touch Teaching The massive Simulation and Clinical Skills Center takes up as much real estate on the third floor as the classrooms below. The center will house some of students’ earliest interactions with patients, in this case, standardized patients trained to simulate a medical condition. The new building will have 30 of these exam rooms, the standard ones large enough to hold four

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A $10 million leadership gift from the late Dr. J. Harold Harrison, a 1948 MCG graduate and renowned vascular surgeon, and his wife, Sue W. Harrison, resulted in the naming of the building. The Harrisons’ gift generated additional support for the facility, including $5 million in donations from area donors and an $8 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, which supports charitable, scientific, and educational activities. The facility also received $42 million in bond funding from the state. students, a faculty member, and the patient, and six are even larger. Two are designed as open bed labs, an educational approach Wallach learned from nursing colleagues at a previous institution. In a sort of intensivecare model, these large rooms may have eight hospital beds with a standardized patient in each. The educator can teach a small group of students to do a standard exam, such as a heart exam, then easily follow up with bedside visits to see how each student is doing. The center’s medication-taking, baby-birthing, physiologically responsive mannequins can similarly be used to teach certain procedures. “It’s really a wonderful place to teach,” says Wallach. The simulation component will include a home health suite that looks like an apartment, as well as an operating room and intensive

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care unit. And like the rest of the building, the spaces will work together to educate health care professionals. Students, for example, can take problems identified in their standardized patients and learn more about treating them on the lifelike mannequins. All interactions are recorded for later review by students and educators alike. The building optimally packages what students need in their first two years, says Gilleland. Wallach agrees. “This new building is a game changer for our school, in that our students will have a home and the space will be beautiful, functional, modern, and contemporary and serve our needs.”

Taking it Up a Notch

August 8, 2013

It was Wallach’s enthusiasm for the project and for medical education that helped inspire Merrell as he began overseeing construction. “He has been key in making me understand and care about birthing health care professionals,” says Merrell. Like most MCG faculty, he could feel Wallach’s passion for students’ well-being and for how the new building could take that up a serious notch. Students like freshman Menezes and senior Gilleland regularly drink in this wellspring of enthusiasm. Gilleland says that while the preclinical curriculum may be similar at many medical schools, MCG faculty members make a real difference in the quality of education throughout all four years. “They very much care about and value education; they take a lot

of time to teach you,” Gilleland says. The package rounds out with a diverse clinical experience that prepares students for pretty much anything. “You really do get to see how medicine is practiced in a variety of areas. You can see highacuity, extremely sick, extremely complicated patients in Augusta at a huge medical center, but you also see more common problems outside of that,” says Gilleland, who at the moment was soaking up knowledge at a private internal medicine practice in Covington, Ga. In fact, the school’s reputation for educating really great doctors— and meeting a lot of them firsthand while growing up in Georgia—was a primary factor in Class of 2016 President Stephen Jackson (below) opting to be part of the early-decision program at MCG.

help but feel bittersweet as he looks at the rapidly developing edifice. “It would have been nice to have one class in there,” says Jackson. However, his environs are enviable in their own right. Jackson will start his clinically intensive third year this summer at MCG’s Southeast Campus based in the beachside communities of Savannah and Brunswick. Dr. Dan DeLoach (’74), who is

185-Year Track Record

already in Savannah, can relate to Jackson’s tinge of mixed emotions. Better than 40 years ago, the prominent plastic surgeon remembers looking enviously across Laney-Walker Boulevard at the not-yet-complete Carl T. Sanders Research and Education Building.

“We have a really long tradition of putting out great doctors. Having 185 years of history helps,” says Jackson. He categorizes the new building as a sort of “statement piece” that sets the stage for the future. Still, he can’t

He was a member of the freshman class that jumped from 120 to 136 students in 1970 because the larger building was supposed to be ready. Instead, DeLoach found himself recruited as a member of the “sweet 16,” pioneers in the medical school’s first tries at an integrated curriculum. “We would actually take the body by systems and study the anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pathology, biochemistry, and microbiology, and all that would be incorporated into the teaching of one body system,” says DeLoach. While pulling out the sweet 16 was, at least in part, a means to accommodate the larger class, “It worked out well for me,” says DeLoach of the now-commonplace teaching approach. Besides, his class did make it into the Research and Education Building by sophomore year. The surgeon, who met his wife, Cameron, a graduate of the College of Nursing, while in medical school, says this next level of integration, with more melding of health care education, also makes good sense for students moving forward. “I hope they are going to find this building to be state of the art. I hope they are going to enhance their ability to learn and to improve their knowledge of medicine and the various disciplines within the practice of medicine so they will emerge having been even better students and being even better physicians than my generation,” says DeLoach.”They have to be better. That is how medicine has evolved to where it is.”

The Harrisons’ $66 million bequest to the Medical College of Georgia Foundation was ranked 32nd in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 2013 “Philanthropy 50” list. The list recognizes America’s biggest donors to nonprofits.

HARRISON AS A YOUNG MAN

MCG medicine

A Great Time to Be Here

Six incoming freshmen next fall will be the inaugural recipients of scholarships established by the $66 million endowment provided by the Dr. J. Harold Harrison estate. The three full scholarships — $35,000 annually — and three partial scholarships — $17,500 annually — will honor academic achievement and track records of leadership such as community service. Recipients will be selected by the MCG Scholarship Committee. Scholarships will be renewed annually if students maintain their academic and leadership standing. Six new scholars will be added for each of the following three years, and more scholarships and endowed chairs will follow as the gift is converted into liquid assets.

And MCG as well. Sixty years ago, the class size was about a third of what it is now and everybody was on a first-name basis. While Katherine uses a GRU app to find where she needs to go, Dr. Roy Witherington, a urologist and 1953 graduate, says the heart of the medical school in his day was housed in just three buildings in his day: Murphey, Dugas, and the picturesque Newton Building, which was demolished in 1960. A small eatery in the Newton Building and long-gone fraternity houses provided ample opportunity for camaraderie and consultation when class was over. He hopes the airy new facility will give today’s students that same sense of home. “It’s a great time to be here,” says Katherine, running down a heady checklist that includes the Harrison gift for the new building, his $66 million gift for scholarships and endowed chairs, and steadfast research growth to bolster an already strong academic home. n

October 8, 2013

Merrell describes the glass, brick, and aluminum structure as “two meshed rectangles with a slight curve on the front and back side.” The usable space of the open-concept facility has grown from about 172,000 to more than 177,000 square feet as the building has come together. There is room for future longitudinal growth on the north side of the building.

Highlights Outside

First floor

Second floor

Third floor

n A 150-foot covered porch with chairs n Tree-lined sidewalks, outdoor dining n Green space featuring indigenous plant life

n Two 300-seat tiered classrooms n One 150-seat tiered classroom n One 150-seat active learning classroom n Café and catering kitchen n Study/collaboration areas

n Student lounge n Learning communities n Small-group learning rooms and study/ collaboration areas

n Simulation and Clinical Skills Center n Learning communities n Small-group learning rooms and study/collaboration areas n Administrative space

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First Floor

First Floor o Tw eat -s 0 0 3 ered s ti oom ssr cla

Second Floor g nin ies r a Le unit mm Co

Second Floor

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Third Floor

Third Floor Simula tion and Clinica l Sk Center ills

November 20, 2013

Interior View

hok.com

Learning Community

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MCG medicine

COURTESY Sally Kolar

GRU hosted a Signing and Raising the Final Beam Celebration at the J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons Nov. 15. Dignitaries signed the beam, and the dozens of attendees enjoyed tours of the rapidly progressing facility, which will serve as an unprecedented learning environment for GRU students. For information about how you can advance education at GRU, contact Ralph Alee at 706-755-3713. n

December 10, 2013

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FROM THE MCG Alumni Association PRESIDENT

Dear Readers, Like everyone else in the world with a computer and an email address, I occasionally get spam. Some of it is good and some is, well, not so good. My favorite “spammer” is my brother, Joe. He recently sent me a fanciful message titled, “How Old Is Grandma?” It recounts some of the changes that have occurred during a hypothetical grandma’s lifetime. Some of the changes are social in nature, and some are technological. They are all well-known to each of us. While the changes seem to hearken back to before the Dark Ages, in fact the grandparent here is only 61 years old. That makes her a year younger than someone I know very well—yours truly! When I arrived on the MCG campus in fall 1973, I was fresh out of undergraduate school. Our initial classes and 2013-14 group meetings were held in what was the new Carl T. MCG Alumni Sanders Research and Education Building. It was state of Association the art for the time, with an auditorium large enough for Members my class of about 150 students. There were no laptops, WiFi, cell phones, or PowerPoints. Professors carried OFFICERS carousel after carousel of slides. One neuroradiology Sam Richwine, MD presenter must have shown a lifetime of X-rays over his President 90-minute presentation. I vaguely remember the afternoon Betty Wray, MD as a rapidly flickering light. President Elect Those days, for better or worse, are now gone. The Buffi Boyd, MD new J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons will First Vice President have state-of-the-art technology for today and beyond. David Gose, MD The 177,000-square-foot building will have all the latest Second Vice President advances. Its advanced Clinical Skills and Simulation Center can accommodate the 190 students who will enter next Mason Thompson, MD fall in Augusta as well as allow for expansion. The largest Secretary/Treasurer auditorium can seat up to 300. I can’t wait to see the General Directors finished product. A. Lynne Brannen, MD As bright as I like to think my class was and is, current Price Corr, MD students outpace us by a mile. Concepts that were only Harvey L. Simpson III, MD suggested to us have been researched and incorporated Hugh Smisson III, MD into the curriculum. This was brought home to me when Alan Smith, MD I talked “medical school” with my daughter, Betsy. She is T. Wayne Rentz, MD now a practicing dermatologist, and much smarter than Class Representatives her dad. Topics such as the lack of or over-expression George Lazari, MD of certain enzymes or genes are now well-defined and Elizabeth Shultz, MD accepted. We could only vaguely see them in a fog. Ronnie Zeidan, MD

Recent Graduate Member Matthew McClain, MD

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For today’s students, it is another item to be grasped and applied with due persistence. This progress is not inexpensive. A quality medical education is becoming more and more costly. That is where our alumni can help. By engaging with and donating to the MCG Alumni Association and the MCG Foundation, you can help ensure that our young people will continue to have a world-class medical education right here in our state. We can continue to attract a wonderful quality of student who ideally will remain in Georgia to treat its citizens (including some of us). We can continue to give them a solid foundation to build on in their residencies and hopefully keep them from being over-burdened with debt. In the long run, everyone wins. Your engagement in time and money makes all this possible. I encourage you to respond favorably the next time you are asked to donate to MCG. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the President of the MCG Alumni Association this year. I have met very bright students who are becoming talented physicians. I have gotten to know dedicated administrators whose one goal professionally is to see MCG advance and its students succeed at the highest levels. Most importantly, I have met devoted alumni who have opened their homes and communities to us. Their ongoing commitment to MCG has made my life easier and the life of our students better. Thank you for the many kindnesses. n

Dr. Sam Richwine (’77)

Naming Opportunities for Education Commons Editor’s note: Various components of the J. Harold Harrison, MD Education Commons have been named in honor of the following people. Other naming opportunities are available as well. For more information, contact Ralph Alee at 706-755-3713.

February 14, 2014

Patio/Porch: Clay Boardman Administrative Suite: Dr. Rhee Fincher* Learning Communities: Drs. Mims Aultman, Dan DeLoach, and Roy Witherington Small-Group Room: Dr. and Mrs. Peter and Leonie Buckley, Dr. Bill Brooks, Karen Hughes, Dr. and Mrs. Theo Thevaos, and Drs. Betty and Charles Wray *Donations made in her honor.

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Original 1800s dissection lab

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‘Blowing Students’ Socks Off’ Renovated Anatomy Labs to Complement Education Commons

he place where medical students make their first incision on the human body now looks like a modern operating suite. “That is what we want it

to be,” acknowledges David Adams, GRU Coordinator of Anatomical Donation Services. It’s bright and open, with LED lighting that accentuates the dramatic contrast of white cabinetry with the pop of turquoise accent walls. Subway tile lines locker room showers, and jacket racks for 240 medical students line a hallway outside the four dissection laboratories. Floors are seamless, easy to clean, and easy on the feet and back. Other niceties include a breakroom, a 24-hour dedicated study, and research space for students with u-shaped desks, computers, drawing boards, and books. s p r i ng 2 0 1 4

When Adams came to GRU about a dozen years ago after several decades in the funeral industry, he started making mental notes about what he would put in his ideal gross anatomy lab. Like a man who just built a bigger and much better house for his family, Adams pretty much got what the students need. “We’ve had a great team of anatomists working on this and a leadership that listened,” Adams says. Planners considered relocating the gross anatomy labs, the heart of a health sciences education, to the new J. Harold Harrison, MD Education

David Adams (second from left) with GRU anatomists Anna Edmondson (from left), Carol Nichols, and Charys Martin

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Commons. But the existing facility is just a short walk away, and the circa1960s bones of the Carl T. Sanders Research and Education Building are still strong. So they made them bigger and better. Space for the medical students alone essentially tripled to 12,000 square feet with ample room for 50 students more per class than the current 190 enrolled at MCG’s main campus in Augusta. Adams borrowed from his old industry the latest in table models, which will tilt, raise, and hold donated bodies from the time they arrive until the remains are cremated, typically a year or

more later. When a team of students identifies a physical anomaly they want to share, a portable inVisionCam, a high-definition teaching video camera, can be brought table side and the teaching moment immediately shared with colleagues in all four labs at their work station monitors. Work station computers enable students to then immediately search the world for more information about their find. Predicting the new facilities will “blow students’ socks off” when they begin studies there this spring, more change is coming, including a larger, walk-in refrigeration unit where

cadavers are held before embalming, a new embalming and preparation suite, a 12-station general surgery lab, a faculty lab, and a drawing room for medical illustration students. “Nothing can take the place of human anatomy, no book, no computer, nothing,” says Adams. “They can help, but the actual dissection is where students learn medicine. That is what is making this so phenomenal. We now have all these other elements coming in to help our instructors educate better doctors.” n

Those who donate their bodies to GRU’s Anatomical Donation Program reflect every walk of life: homemakers, truck drivers, tax preparers, physicians. Adams, who works with many of the donors as they plan their gift, says the donors often have experienced significant illness and want to spare others the experience. Last year, 125 individuals became GRU body donors.

For more information, visit gru.edu/mcg/cba/bodydonation/.

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MCG medicine

COURTESY HEATHER DONLAN

Alumni Profile

TLC

Alum’s Concierge Practice Offers Personal Touch BY CHRISTINE HURLEY DERISO

You’ve stumbled onto the property of Drs. Brian and Helen Thornburg and have three guesses to figure out the couple’s livelihood.

Dr. BRIAN THORNBURG ’03 PEDIATRICS RESIDENCY

DR. HELEN THORNBURG

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Let’s see: Judging by the chickens, cows, goats, and peacocks grazing on the bucolic green grounds, they’re clearly farmers . . . right? On second thought . . . several people are sitting on mats on the lush lawn practicing yoga in the balmy Florida sunshine. So they run some sort of wellness retreat? Wait, wait. . . . You’ve just spotted a charming lemon-colored cottage on the grounds with flower boxes and white latticework. A sign outside nailed to a tree in a child’s scrawl announces: Drs. Brian and Helen Thornburg. A medical practice?

The answer is “all of the above,” and, well, you’d have to spend just a few minutes basking in the sunlight and breathing the fresh air on the Thornburg homestead to realize that not only can this all be done on one family’s watch, but it can be done with remarkable sanguinity. Oh, and they’re raising eight young children while Brian puts finishing touches on a new business. (More on that later.)

Life On Their Own Terms No, the Thornburgs aren’t vying for Multitaskers of the Year. They’re simply living life on their own terms. Every task, they insist, is complementary, with each component of their lives flowing seamlessly into the next. “I focus on mind, body, and spirit,” says Dr. Brian Thornburg, a concierge pediatrician in Naples, Fla., who was recently named one of Parents Magazine’s Seven Most Innovative Pediatricians in the Country. “Spirit is just an acknowledgement that there’s a natural way for things to occur, that we’re more than just the sum of our parts, and that we have to surrender to a higher order.” One senses his Zen-like philosophy within moments of meeting him. His appointments commonly stretch 90 minutes long. He often answers the office phone himself. He returns calls and emails promptly. Whether he’s interacting with a patient, a parent, a child, a cow, an organic tomato plant, or an interviewer, he never seems rushed. “My practice is in a guest house on my property, so my kids are constantly running around,” says Brian, who completed a pediatrics residency at the Medical College of Georgia and GR Medical Center in 2003. “It’s a very welcoming environment.”

Gaining Trust As the nation’s second concierge pediatrician, he maintains a small patient base — approximately 325 — and is available 24/7 to the families he serves, all of whom pay a membership fee. He opened his practice in 2006 and has had patients on a waiting list since. He keeps his membership fee low to ensure a diverse patient mix and is assisted by wife Helen, who completed her emergency medicine residency at MCG in 2002. And although Thornburg is on call around the clock, education is such a vital component of his practice that latenight calls are rare. “If you’re not a good communicator, patients won’t come to you,” he says. “My lifestyle is amenable to seeing patients 24/7, but things naturally work themselves out. Part of doing my job is educating parents, which makes them more confident to handle situations as they arise. They gain trust.” Parents are incorporated into every aspect of the practice, including being invited to join their children for family yoga sessions on the Thornburg grounds. The pace is infinitely more leisurely, Brian insists, than when he worked for a large practice. “It was very much corporate medicine,” he says. “I was expected to see a patient every eight minutes. It was less personal and, for me, very frustrating. I don’t think many physicians are happy with that inand-out approach.” His wife, who handles urgent care in the practice, concurs. “The practice helps us balance our lives,” she says. “When Brian had a regular practice and I was in emergency medicine, we were about to explode. It was too much.”

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The Ultimate Goal The concierge practice, they say, is what they envisioned when they pursued medical careers. Says Brian, “I wanted to work with little kids, encourage healthy lifestyles, and help change family cultures when necessary so children would have better coping skills and would be able to pass those skills onto their kids.” His high-touch approach, he notes, “helps children stay off antibiotics, avoid hospitalizations, and stay healthy. We have time to focus on nutrition, parenting, environmental concerns—all of the contributors to a child’s well-being. I look at how parents cope with frustrations in life, because those tend to be the same approaches the child will take. I stress the ultimate goal: to raise a husband, wife, father, mother who knows how to maintain healthy relationships and good balance in life.” That doesn’t mean he counsels a one-sizefits-all approach. “I have everything from co-sleeping attachment parents to more strict parents, so I don’t necessarily endorse a single philosophy,” Brian says. “I take the family values into consideration and create a personalized medical plan. I’ll talk about the pluses and minuses of their parenting style, point out any difficulties that may arise later, and work with them to optimize their style.” His wife notes that she gets “the breastfeeding, sleeping, and discipline questions. I use my mommy experience, which seems to help people. By your eighth child, you’re pretty competent.” She adds with a laugh, “Having eight kids has been great for business.”

Healthy Diets . . . Plus Ice Cream Even the most controversial issues find a compassionate sounding board in the Thornburgs’ office. “Some of my parents delay or cherry-pick vaccines or don’t take them at all,” says Brian. “I advise them that certain vaccines show more benefits than others. Some clearly help an illness incidence occur less. For instance, we haven’t had a case of polio in over 20 years, whereas meningitis

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is very common. But vaccines have toxins. My oldest kids are vaccinated and my younger ones are on a delayed schedule. I don’t advise; I just educate. I have a three-hour long vaccination lecture that’s turning into a book.” And whereas he also spends considerable time discussing nutrition with parents, he isn’t as rigid as one might assume an organic farmer would be. “I like the paleo diet [meats, vegetables and fruits in their most natural forms],” he says. “I see a lot of chronic illnesses that traditionally were adult diseases because of toxins in foods, a lack of

nutrients, and increased carbs and calories in diets. But my kids eat well and enjoy their ice cream, too.” Patients give Brian high marks for his bedside manner. “He is quite possibly the most caring, respectable and down-to-earth husband, father, and professional I have ever met,” notes one parent. “He defines the term, ‘lead by example.’”

Teaching the Ropes Brian is so sold on the concierge approach to medicine that he’s developed a business, Innovative Pediatrics LLC, to teach other

Parenting In Sync The Thornburgs stress that they don’t push their parenting style on their patients’ families, preferring to respect the parents’ individual styles. But how exactly do they raise their own children, ages 9 months to 11 years? “I would say I was much more strict at first than I am now,” Brian Thornburg says. “I’m not an attachment parent, but I definitely focus on the loving aspect. My parents were more strict, with lots of expectations. We’re pretty structured, but there’s a lot of spontaneity.” Wife Helen laughs that rule books tend to fly out the window as the family grows. “There’s no helicopter parenting with eight children,” she says wryly.

“My wife and I are pretty much in sync,” her husband says. “But Mommy’s more about no, no, no, and Daddy’s more about yes, yes, yes. Dads tend to let their kids try things more than moms do.” Says his wife, “I figured out long ago that the only one who can help us with eight kids is God. Every day is a learning situation, and you try to do the best you can with what you’re given. We have wonderful children who seem to be really thriving. I don’t think a traditional practice would have enabled us to do what we’ve done.” Her only regret? “I wish we had more bathrooms.”

physicians the ropes. His company provides the products needed to start a concierge practice, then offers consultants to walk clients through the process. “When you consider expenses like malpractice insurance, our clients often actually end up saving money,” says Brian, who earned a master’s degree in management from St. Thomas University. “Plus, we have business relationships with lots of third-party vendors that provide price breaks.” But the biggest advantages, he insists, are intangible. “Practicing concierge medicine helps marriages, it helps parents, it helps patients,” Brian says. “The downside is that some patients can’t afford it; this is very much an earn-as-you-go model. But the advantages are considerable. Pediatricians were signed up before the business opened.” One of the best parts of a concierge practice, in his estimation, is that energy salvaged from a previously frenetic schedule can be used to help the community. “Community involvement and service is down among physicians because they see so many patients,” Brian says. “They just don’t have the time to do it. But with the concierge lifestyle, my wife and I have that chance, even with eight kids.” The cause closest to their hearts is the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collier County, which serves physically and sexually abused children. Brian donated his $1,000 Parents Magazine honorarium to the group. He will assume the directorship of the child abuse team next year. He even has time for himself. Triathlons are a favorite pastime. Says Brian, “I wouldn’t change a thing.” n

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A Growing Trend Concierge medicine is becoming an increasingly familiar and accepted mode of health care, including within professional associations. Dr. Russell Libby, past Chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Division of Home Health Care, asked Dr. Brian Thornburg to help establish national home health care standards. Thornburg’s practice blends the American Academy of Pediatrics’ clinical guidelines with a family’s

reasonable medical wishes— an approach he advocates to the fledgling concierge practitioners he advices through his Innovative Pediatrics, LLC business. The American Academy of Private Physicians reports that in 2012, 4,400 physicians practiced concierge medicine in the United States, up 30 percent from 2011. A recent study by Merritt Hawkins for the Physicians Foundation found that 9.6 percent of practice owners plan to convert to concierge medicine within three years. A

2012 Medscape study found that the average concierge physician, whose patient base is lower but whose expenses are as well, makes $150,000 to $300,000 a year, compared to $156,000 to $315,000 for the average primary care physician working in a conventional model. The patient fee averages $135 to $150 a month. About 75 percent of concierge physicians accept insurance, while the remaining have cash-only practices, according to the American Academy of Private Physicians.

For more information about Innovative Pediatrics LLC call 239-348-7337 or email Info@InnovativePediatrics.com.

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Dr. WILLIAM E. SILVER, ’63

MCG medicine

Alumni Profile

Turning Point MCG Education Launched Lifelong Smiles for MAG President BY christine hurley deriso

t was the smiles that hooked him. Dr. William E. Silver’s favorite pastime growing up in Atlanta was photography. His uncle, a plastic surgeon, enlisted the boy’s services to take before-and-after pictures of his patients. “I saw how happy they were after surgery,” says Silver. His other hobby is sculpting, and no career seemed more natural than sculpting new contours into the faces and bodies of those whose birth defects, injuries, or self-esteem left them desperately in need of smiles. “I sculpt in clay—kind of a busman’s holiday,” says Silver, who recently began his tenure as President of the Medical Association of Georgia. “Sculpting and plastic surgery are related. They’re both visual and tactile arts.”

A Natural Path Of course, plastic surgery is an art and a science, and fortunately, the science came easily to Silver, who graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in 1963. “Those were the easy courses for me,” he says. “You didn’t have to memorize everything; you could

reason most things out.” As natural a path as it was, Silver still found himself pleasantly surprised at how much he had to learn. “MCG was the turning point in my life,” he says simply. “I got my undergraduate degree at Emory University, so being in Augusta was the first time I’d ever lived away from home. I look at it as the time I grew up.” Sweetening the deal even more was meeting a pretty young woman named Susan shortly after he arrived. They were married by his second year of medical school. “We lived in ‘married quarters,’ across from what is now the [GR Medical Center] emergency room,” Silver says. “Everybody who lived there was either a resident, medical student, or faculty. We all became very close. We’d barbecue in the quadrangle outside. I didn’t have to travel anywhere; I walked

LEONARD REEVES

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everywhere I needed to go. On Sundays, we would play touch football in front of the hospital. Those were really good days.” His wife taught school to pay the bills, and Silver earned a little money by drawing blood at University Hospital in his spare time. “I’m sure they don’t use medical students to do that anymore,” he says with a laugh, “but it was a great way to get extra spending money.”

Vivid Memories Silver’s most memorable moments took place in the classroom. “I was so fond of the faculty,” he says. “Dr. [Robert B.] Greenblatt was a good friend, and I really enjoyed Dr. Leland Stoddard’s pathology classes. He taught in a manner that made you think rather than spoon-feeding you information. I also enjoyed learning from [former MCG President William] Moretz, who chaired the surgery department at the time. He had the skill

of making students feel important. I gained a lot of confidence from that relationship. I could name professor after professor who had an impact on me. After this many years, the memories are still very, very vivid.” After reluctantly closing that chapter of his life, Silver completed residencies in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and otolaryngology at Mount Sinai and Bellevue Hospitals in New York City. He then served as Director of Head and Neck Surgery for the U.S. Army before opening Premier

“I initially did a large amount of head and neck cancer surgery and reconstruction. I do cosmetic facial surgery exclusively now, and at my stage of the game, I do it for the fun. It’s great to work in a field where you see the results almost immediately.” Image Cosmetic & Laser Surgery in Atlanta in 1970. “I initially did a large amount of head and neck cancer surgery and reconstruction,” he says. “I do cosmetic facial surgery exclusively now, and at my

Dr. W. Scott Bohlke (’92), Immediate Past President of the Medical Association of Georgia, swears in his successor, Dr. William E. Silver

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stage of the game, I do it for the fun. It’s great to work in a field where you see the results almost immediately.”

Unprecedented Precision He relishes the technological advances that have added unprecedented precision to his specialty. For instance, “in the beginning of my practice, I’d put the patient in front of a mirror and do some drawings. Today, we use computer imaging. I can show them very realistic pictures so they’ll have a good idea long before surgery of what the outcome will be.” He also enjoys building relationships that ensure patients have healthy motivations and reasonable expectations in pursuing cosmetic surgery. “There are times a patient is not ready,” Silver says. “I can ask them to delay surgery and come back later.” His patient base, he says, is surprisingly diverse. “A large number of my rhinoplasty patients are men,” he says. “You’ll see people whose breathing is being impeded, or who just want better esthetic results. Then I work with aging patients who want face lifts, eyelid lifts, or other procedures to make them look more refreshed. A lot of them end up saying, ‘Why didn’t I do this sooner?’” He’s happy to note that his patient diversity is reflected in income levels, as well. “Cosmetic surgery patients are no longer exclusively wealthy,” he says. “Now, with outpatient surgery centers and monitored anesthesia, stays are shorter, recovery is faster, and the cost is cheaper. Plus, insurance generally covers functional problems, such as noses that impede breathing.” He loves seeing the smiles that drew him to the specialty in the first place. “The greatest thing is to see something you’ve started from

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scratch, then make a plan and see it through to the end result. I see something I’ve created. That’s an excitement you can’t substitute with anything else.” Another bonus? His two grown children and their families live within a three-mile radius.

Examples of Silver’s patients’ results

BEFORE

AFTER

Building Bridges But as content at Silver is, he isn’t resting on his laurels. As President of the 7,500-member MAG, he is eager to improve medicine as much as possible for those following in his footsteps—as well as their patients, of course. “Our goal is to build bridges and keep them solid,” he says, citing key issues such as patient accessibility, tort reform, medical student debt, and third-party payment. “We go to Washington several times a year to work with government officials,” he says. “There are physicians like myself who love what they do and would do it no matter what. But another group is tired of dealing with all the bureaucracy. I’ve seen so many doctors retire early. Others are dissatisfied but can’t change course. Plus, private practice is drying up; doctors now join hospital groups and work on a salary. I worry that the independence of practicing medicine is disappearing, and that’s where a lot of innovation comes from.” And as much as he values his colleagues in the health care industry, he is pushing for a transparency law to ensure that each person who comes in contact with a

patient wears a badge stating their titles. “It’s important to know the degree they earned and their level of expertise,” he says. “There’s a difference in having a physician who spent 10 to 15 years training versus someone who spent two or three years training.” But his concerns nothwithstanding, he is heartened by the residents who rotate through his practice, demonstrating a steady stream of optimism, enthusiasm, and new ideas. Not that he’s stepping aside, he stresses. “I enjoy myself too much to retire,” Silver says. “I married my wife for better or worse, but not for lunch.” n

Faculty Spotlight BY TONI BAKER

Dr. michael madaio

chairman, department of medicine

Open Door Chairman Relishes Mentoring Role

A couple of hours each week, Dr. Michael Madaio keeps his calendar and his door open. It’s a symbolic yet pragmatic gesture, an acknowledgment of the line in the sand of authority and his strong mentoring gene. “There is an obstacle there,” he says in his characteristically even tempo. Before he became one back in 2008, it’s not that Madaio feared the Department of Medicine chairmen he worked for. “But I wouldn’t go in and have a soda with the guy or just ask a question,” he says. But most days, Madaio likes it that residents and junior faculty feel they can share a cup of coffee — his favorite beverage — with him even when it’s not an official open house. He finds it interesting that more established faculty are a tad more reticent. “Whatever works for them,” he says. Because the Chairman of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Medicine really, really likes helping people grow academically. The yin is that a couple of hours each week, Madaio also walks to his lab across campus, where he is essentially out of touch and glad of it. His cell phone just doesn’t seem to work for him in the circa-’60s Carl T. Sanders Research and Education Building. But the science really does.

He started out as one of those kids who almost instinctively knew that two plus two equals four. “I am a numbers guy” who does Sudoku while Pam, his wife of 42 years, excels at crossword puzzles. Like the Sanders Building, Madaio is also a product of the ’60s and ’70s. The second-generation American was once a long-haired rebel who confronted college administrators and struggled with the losses of the Vietnam War. Still, Madaio’s generation would largely evolve into a crowd of leaders and overachievers. And, when he wasn’t protesting at Fairfield University in Connecticut, he was thinking his love of the logic of math and discovery of science meant that just maybe he should be a doctor. Madaio really loved medical school and residency. Despite some natural angst about what he didn’t know, he was mega-energized by what he was learning. During one of his rare summers off at Albany Medical College, he spent mornings helping kidney patients on dialysis and afternoons with a surgery resident learning to transplant kidneys. Like medicine itself, Madaio quickly took to the science and math of the hard-working kidneys. His choice of an internal medicine residency at Virginia Commonwealth University fit perfectly.

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Dr. David Hume, who along with Dr. John Merrill transplanted the first kidney while still at Harvard University, was then Chairman of Surgery at Albany. Hume would die in a plane crash shortly after Madaio’s arrival, but Madaio’s interest in the kidneys would continue to flourish, leading to clinical and research fellowships in nephrology and a research fellowship in immunology at Boston University. “It does a lot,” he says simply of the two fist-sized organs. “The kidneys filter 150 liters of blood a day and you urinate one or two [of those]. In doing all this, there is a process that balances your body chemistry so it’s normal.” When kidneys go bad, often because of hypertension and/or diabetes, a lot goes bad. The toxins and fluids that build up in the body are just part of it. When sick kidneys don’t make enough of the hormone, erythropoietin, for example, the bone marrow doesn’t make enough red blood cells, potentially causing anemia and a variety of other problems, including heart disease. A parallel interest in immunology made transplant nephrology a natural for Madaio, as well as treatment of a serious kidney infection, called nephritis, which can become particularly problematic in patients with lupus. “Part of my research early on was to figure out why patients get lupus and why particular organs are attacked. Because if you have lupus, you may have kidney disease. If I have lupus, I may have joint disease and skin disease. It’s pretty variable.” When the kidneys are a target, if lupus can be brought into remission long enough for a kidney transplant, the drugs needed to keep the body from rejecting the new organ should also help keep overactive immune systems from attacking elsewhere and so keep the lupus in check. His latest research, in collaboration with immunologist Dr. Tracy L. McGaha (see page 9), whom he recruited from Temple when he came in 2008, is making headway in identifying less extreme measures for blocking kidney inflammation and helping damaged cells recover.

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Treating hospitalized patients and working in the nephrology fellows clinic is a regular reminder of the progress that still needs to be made. He’s currently got his analytical eye on his internal medicine residency as well, convinced that a better job can be done in educating a group of doctors who could either be a cornerstone of primary care, specialists in mega-short supply in the country, or subspecialists, like him. As he talks about what’s on the table for MCG’s largest department, Madaio’s passion is characteristically clear, but his countenance calm. “I just like him,” says Dr. Charles Howell, Chairman of the Department of Surgery. ‘Wonderful guy, good, level-headed, smart, articulate, good thinker,” he says of the colleague who quickly became a work friend when Howell also became a chairman in 2011. While definitely different personality types, the old adage that opposites attract seems to work for these two who have critical, common interests in key program development and faculty recruitment. “It’s not like mixing oil and water, it’s more like mixing two things that are compatible to make one thing better,” says Howell. The recruitment of renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Satish Rao from the University of Iowa to lead the gastrointestinal medical/surgical service is an early example of success. The more recent recruitment of transplant surgeon Dr. Carlos F. Zayas, from the Piedmont Transplant Service at Piedmont Hospital is another. “We talk about things nights, weekends, it does not matter,” says Howell. In fact, they have a standing open-door policy for each other. “I think your best friend as a surgeon would be a great internist, outside the operating room,” Howell says with his iconic grin. n

MCG medicine

Highlights Madaio came to MCG in 2008 as Charbonnier Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine from Temple University, where he was Chief of Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation and Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology. He holds the Sydenstricker Professorship and Chair. Madaio has helped recruit 30 of the department’s 102 faculty members, including Dr. Jose Vazquez (see page 8), a federally funded physician-scientist from Wayne State University, to head the Section of Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Laura Carbone, also a federally funded physician-scientist, from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to head the Rheumatology Section. Key internal recruits include Dr. Lee Merchen as head of the Section of General Internal Medicine and Dr. Loretta Davis as Chief of the Section of Dermatology. There simply aren’t enough dermatologists and keeping particularly good ones, is tough, Madaio says. Most recently he named fellow nephrologist Dr. Stan Nahman as inaugural Associate Chairman for Translational Research to strengthen bench-to-bedside initiatives.

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Education: n Graduate of Albany Medical College, 1974 n Chief Resident in Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1977-78 n Clinical and Research Fellowships in Nephrology at Boston University, 1978-81 n Research Fellowship in Immunology, Tufts University, 1981-82 n Harvard Program for Clinical Chiefs of Service, 2010

Memberships: n Research and Nominating Committees, Association of Professors of Medicine n American Society for Clinical Investigators n Editorial Boards of Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, Future Rheumatology n Advisory Board, Türkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences n Has regularly served as a grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and multiple times for the American Society of Nephrology and Lupus Research Institute

Team Effort Athens Students Honored for Community Partnerships

Courtesy andrew davis tucker

BY ALISON BRACEWELL MCCULLICK

MCG medicine

itting at the table at the Casa de Amistad office in Athens, the conversation flowed naturally between medical students and Spanishspeaking participants in an English as a Second Language program. It was November 2013, and an observer might have found it difficult to identify the medical students, who were gathering information as part of their community health course. When someone mentioned “charlas,” the ESL students lit up with excitement and agreed they loved the idea of introducing it in Athens. Roughly translated, “charla” is Spanish for “chat” and is a popular method of conducting community forums on a range of topics in Latin American countries.

justin bRooten

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Defining Moment “This discussion between our team members and Casa de Amistad students has been the defining moment in our project thus far,” says Palmer Feibelman, a first-year student on the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership campus. “It unveiled a culturally relevant platform to host our health-related discussions.” Feibelman’s community health team is working with Casa de Amistad to learn more about the role of cultural practices on obesity rates. A series of charlas began in February as the group implements a strategy for encouraging healthy eating choices in the community. The project is one of five being conducted by first-year students at the GRU/UGA Medical Partnership in Athens. Developed in 2010, the Community Health Program recently received a Shining Star Award from the Group on Regional Medical Campuses at the Association of American Medical Colleges. “Good doctoring relies on recognizing that health is not merely defined by biology,” says Dr. Laurel Murrow (above left), who helped develop the program. “The effective physician takes into account the strong influences from family, neighborhood, and the larger community, so teaching a student these lessons is best accomplished not in the classroom, but in the community.” Each fall semester, first-year students are introduced to core population health concepts through a variety of interactive sessions. Five teams of students then are matched with community partner agencies that have chosen highpriority problems affecting their clients. One community supervisor and two faculty advisors work with each team to investigate the

problem. Students review related literature, study public health data, and interview patients, clients, and other stakeholders. By December, each team submits a proposal and a budget to address the problem. During the spring semester, the teams implement their projects, conduct evaluations, and propose future refinements.

Doing More with Less “A key component of the program’s success is developing strong relationships with the community agencies long before each class of students arrives,” says Murrow. Partners have included AIDS Athens, Athens Community Council on Aging, Athens-Clarke County Unified Government, Athens Nurses Clinic, Athens YMCA, Casa de Amistad, Early Head Start/Head Start, Nuci’s Space, and the UGA University Health Center. In 2010-11, students worked with the Athens Community Council on Aging to address polypharmacy in older adults. “The patients we worked with have multiple treating

physicians, such as a primary care provider, a cardiologist, and a rheumatologist, and it can become difficult for them to understand the nature of all their prescriptions,” says Justin Brooten, a fourth-year student who participated in the project. “Depending on the degree of communication between their different providers, prescriptions may become redundant, excessive, or potentially harmful.” Brooten’s group worked closely with ACCA to design and implement a medication database, which continues to help the council identify potential health risks. “The partnership with the Community Health Program has increased our agency’s capacity to provide programs and services that promote positive health outcomes,” says Eve Anthony, ACCA Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “This partnership has given our agency access to elite students and experienced faculty who have researched, developed, and implemented new services within our programs. It has given our agency opportunities to do more with less,

MCG medicine

allowing us to have an increased impact on the lives of the population we serve.” Brooten is applying for residency programs and highlights the project during interviews. “It has been one of the most influential opportunities I have had in medical school,” he says. “It illustrates the broader role that medical students can play in impacting the communities in which they learn and serve.”

Good Doctoring “Through service-learning, our students begin to understand the complex nature of health problems affecting their local area while delivering much-needed services to specific populations,” says GRU/UGA Medical Partnership Campus Dean Barbara Schuster. “Through this continuously innovative program, our students begin to develop the skills necessary for good doctoring.” As a fourth-year medical student, Rachel Taylor often reflects on how the health literacy project she worked on continues to influence her interactions with patients. “Community health set a framework that I try to compare to the textbook treatment plan for every patient I meet: Will this patient agree to take a medication? Is it something that she can work into her daily schedule? Should we try some lifestyle modification first? The Community Health curriculum was integrated into my clinical knowledge slowly, so that when I started my third-year rotations, how the patient was going to fare at home was always my concern when they walked out of the office or hospital.” “The Community Health Project creates a bond between the medical campus and the community that it serves,” says Bob Sleppy, Executive Director of community partner Nuci’s Space, a nonprofit targeting depression in area musicians. “The benefit of including a community health project in a future physician’s training is immeasurable.” n

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DREAM Job

BY TONI BAKER

MCG Faculty Oversee Repository Ensuring Tests are Tested

Health profession educators can now quickly find tests that score well in measuring their studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; competency. Educational researchers at the Medical College of Georgia have teamed up with the Association of American Medical Colleges to provide the Directory and Repository of Educational Assessment Measures, or DREAM. The steadily growing DREAM, mededportal.org/ dream, lives on the site of the AAMCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s MedEdPORTAL Publications, established in 2005 to provide educators and the public easy, free access to peer-reviewed teaching resources such as tutorials, virtual patients, simulation cases, and podcasts.

MCG medicine

”The AAMC’s partnership with the American Dental Education Association filled the void of a centralized clearinghouse of highquality health care educational materials,” said Dr. Christopher S. Candler, MedEdPORTAL’s Editor-inChief and Co-Founder. DREAM provides the same type of home for assessments of health professions student competencies, such as the best way to communicate with patients and optimal understanding of the anatomy of the human body. “DREAM is a very important and logical development for MedEdPORTAL Publications that will help us meet the needs of health professions educators even better,” Candler said. Dr. Lara M. Stepleman (right), a psychologist and Co-Director of GRU’s Educational Innovation Institute, and Dr. Christie L. Palladino (left), Educational

“Without validating tests, educators cannot be sure that a student passing a test has really mastered a given competency,” Palladino said. “Accurately demonstrating that students can master certain competencies is part of health professions universities’ obligation to students, patients, accrediting bodies, and the public,” Stepleman added. Also, there was no single source to find ‘tested’ tests, the researchers said. “We test students all the time, but how good are the tests we use?” Palladino mused. “We want to put into educators’ hands the information they need to select the right assessment for what they are teaching so they can make good, evidence-based decisions on how well they are doing.” Rather than a time-consuming scouring of the literature to find a test—that might not work well

“We want to become that place where someone goes when they want to measure a competency related to a health professions student.” –DR. LAURA M. STEPLEMAN Researcher and an Associate Editor of MedEdPORTAL Publications, codeveloped DREAM to bring greater scientific objectivity to health professions education assessment. While the concept of untested tests seems like a non sequitur, their literature searches found that nearly half of the tests used to measure a wide variety of competencies in the health professions were used only at a single institution and had no published data about their efficacy. That meant a lot of duplication of effort in terms of educators producing — but rarely validating — tests.

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anyway—or making up their own test, educators can visit DREAM and find tests whose quality has been measured in published studies along with a 1,000-word peer-reviewed analysis of the test by an expert in that particular area. The 1,000-word analyses serve as an evidence-based ‘review’ of each assessment’s strengths and weaknesses. “Social media has made us much more dependent on reviews,” Stepleman said. “What we are saying is if you read multiple reviews just to buy a camera, shouldn’t we be able to apply that same level of criteria to making sure

we have a doctor of high quality? “The goal as we talk about DREAM is to have measures that have been developed and tested so that if we say students are good at something, they are good at it whether they are in Georgia or Washington or assessed by this faculty member or that one,” she said. Like their educational colleagues nationwide, they want evidencebased testing that not only tells an educator whether his curriculum is accomplishing what it should , but an objective means for comparing curricula so that ultimately, the best ones get used. “The facts are that while many medical educators, for example, don’t have ample time or training to develop tests, medical education is becoming more competency focused,” Stepleman said. Groups including the AAMC and the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, for example, set physician competencies such as patient care, professionalism, and self-directed learning. The first DREAM visitors will find about 100 assessments available as a result of Stepleman’s and Palladino’s extensive perusals of the literature. Their systematic assessment of assessments also is identifying test gaps that they plan to help fill. They note that not every test included in DREAM gets rave reviews, but it’s important that educators recognize tests’ strengths and weaknesses, Palladino said. “Think about scientific literature,” said Stepleman. “One of the biggest criticisms is that people don’t publish negative findings.” “We want to become that place where someone goes when they want to measure a competency related to a health professions student,” Stepleman said. n

Class notes Dr. Sam Brewton Jr. (’56), Thomaston, Ga., received the 2013 Service to Mankind Award by the Thomaston Sertoma Club for his service to the Thomaston community throughout the years.

Dr. Merle P. Stringer (’68), a neurosurgeon at the Brain and Spine Center in Panama City, Fla., has been reappointed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to the Board of Medicine in Florida. He is a former President of the Florida Neurosurgical Society and Bays Medical Society. Stringer completed his neurological surgery residency at University Hospital in Baltimore.

Dr. Miles Mason III (’72), Duluth, Ga., was recently presented Georgia Hospital Association’s prestigious Chairman’s Award. He was recognized for long-time dedication to the hospital system and for bringing quality care to the community.

Dr. David Johnson (’76) has been named Chairman of the American Board of Internal Medicine Board of Directors. He is a noted expert on lung cancer, holds the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine, and is Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Davey Herring (’80), Eatonton, Ga.,

Neurological Surgery and is a member of the American Medical Association, the Southern Neurosurgical Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the Georgia Neurological Society, and the Muscogee County Medical Society. He is also Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at University of Rochester Medical Center.

has joined Eatonton Medical and Surgical Center and the staff of Putnam General Hospital. He is a Fellow in the Southeastern Surgical Congress, and a member of The Macon Surgical Society and The Will C. Sealy Surgical Society. He is also a volunteer clinical faculty member for both the Mercer University School of Medicine and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. Walter Curran (’82), Atlanta, was

Dr. James Metcalf (’80), Ithica, N.Y., recently joined the Progressive Neurosurgery practice at Cayuga Medical Associates through a regional neurosurgery initiative. He is certified by the American Board of

Dr. Robert Bowman (’86), Tifton, Ga., has opened Changes Laser, a clinic dedicated to expert laser tattoo removal, to meet southern and central Georgia’s increasing demand for a solution to address tattoo regret.

Dr. John S. Harvey (’78)

recently named Executive Director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, and Chairman in Cancer Research by the Georgia Research Alliance. He is also Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology in Emory University School of Medicine.

He was applauded for his service as a colonel and command surgeon in the Georgia State Defense Force, where he has been a volunteer since 2000. His missions have included Katrina and Rita hurricane assistance, and Haiti earthquake victim airlifts in Atlanta. During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Harvey served as a volunteer medical command officer, where he dealt directly with the medical and multi-agency response to the Centennial Park bombing. In 2006 he was awarded the Georgia Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal. Harvey has served as the speaker of MAG’s House of Delegates since 2009 and is past MAG President.

received the 2013 Physician’s Award for Community Service during the Medical Association of Georgia’s 159th House of Delegates meeting. The award recognizes a physician who demonstrates a love for the community beyond the scope of regular practice.

MAG Immediate Past president W. Scott Bohlke with Dr. John S. Harvey

MCG medicine

Dr. Cordell “Chip” Bragg (’86),

Dr. Jonathan Poon (’04) has been

Thomasville, Ga., has released his third book, “Crescent Moon over Carolina,” which examines the life of Maj. Gen. William Moultrie (17301805). He is also the author of “Distinction in Every Service: Brigadier General Marcellus A. Stovall, C.S.A.” and co-author of “Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia.”

named the new Chief of Medical Staff at Elbert Memorial Hospital in Elberton, Ga. He is a board certified family practitioner at The Medical Center of Elberton.

has been named Sleep Lab Medical Director at University Health Care System in Augusta.

Dr. George Fuhrman (’86) was recently named to the Best Doctors in New Orleans list by New Orleans magazine. He is employed at Ochsner Medical Center and serves as Program Director for the general surgery residency program.

Dr. Warren Kyle Stribling (’05) recently joined the cardiology staff at Henry County Medical Center in Paris, Tenn. He is certified for cardiovascular diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and is board eligible for heart failure and transplant.

Dr. Jon Jones (’86) recently joined Russell

Dr. Jeremy Bruce (’07) has joined the medical staff of Chattanooga Bone & Joint Surgeons. He completed an orthopedic residency at University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga and a fellowship in sports medicine at The Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze, Fla.

Medical Center in Alexander City, Ala., as a general surgeon.

Dr. Robert Rosengart (’88) has been elected President of the Georgia Radiological Society. He is a partner with Radiology Associates of Macon and serves on various committees for both the group and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. Dr. Gary Stanziano (’88), Marietta, Ga., has joined MiMedx as Vice President of Medical Affairs. The company creates patentprotected regenerative biomaterials and bioimplants processed from human amniotic membrane. Stanziano works with health plan representatives to optimize reimbursement of MiMedx products. He previously served as Vice President of Medical Affairs at Matria Healthcare.

Dr. Bob Johnson (’90) has announced his candidacy for Georgia’s First Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He practices with SouthCoast Medical Group in Savannah, Ga.

Dr. Joseph T. Stubbs III (’93) practices in Albany, Ga., and is among the first physicians in the nation to achieve board certification in the new OB/GYN subspecialty of female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery.

Dr. Alan Morgan (’03) has joined St. Mary’s Neurological Specialists in Athens, Ga., as a neurohospitalist, a physician who specializes in providing neurological care to hospitalized patients.

Dr. Melissa Davis (’04, Resident, Pediatrics) heads Harbin Clinic’s Ansley Park Pediatrics in Rome, Ga., which recently held a ribbon cutting to celebrate the new clinic.

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Dr. Matthew Kevin Howard (’05)

Dr. Mason Florence (’07, Resident, Orthopedic Surgery) has joined Athens Orthopedic Clinic in Athens, Ga., and specializes in arthroscopic and reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle.

Dr. Ashley Dickinson (’13) and Dr. Alejandro Pena (’13) were married on May 18, 2013. They are completing residencies in Arizona.

Dr. Joe Henry Livingston IV (’13) recently joined Floyd Medical Center’s Family Medicine Residency program in Rome, Ga.

Residents/Fellows Dr. Reid B. Blackwelder, who completed his family physician residency at MCG as Chief Resident, has been named President of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Blackwelder, a family physician in Kingsport, Tenn., previously served as a Director on the academy board and one year as President-Elect.

Dr. Stephen Chen, who completed a cardiovascular disease fellowship at MCG, has joined Springfield Clinic in Springfield, Ill.

Dr. Dion Franga, who completed a

Children’s Hospital of Erlanger in Chattanooga, Tenn., as a pediatric pulmonologist.

general surgery residency at MCG, has joined Regional Medical Center’s surgical practice, Palmetto Surgical Group in Orangeburg, S.C. A Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, he is board certified in general surgery and interventional nephrology, and is registered in vascular interpretation-ARDMS.

Dr. Betsy Grunch (’07) has joined

Dr. Moonkyung Schubert (Resident,

The Longstreet Clinic in Gainesville, Ga., as a neurosurgeon. She is a member of the American College of Surgeons, Association of Women Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

Internal Medicine) has joined Gastroenterology Associates of Pensacola, Fla.

Dr. Devon Greene (’07) recently joined

Dr. Alyssa Paetau (’07) is certified by the American Board of Surgery. She joined Western Maine Surgery, a department of Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, Me., in August 2012 after completing her surgical residency at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Brad Snead, who completed his ophthalmology residency at GRU, recently joined Snead Eye Group in Fort Myers, Fla.

In Memoriam Dr. Mims Aultman (’53) died Dec. 11.

Dr. Lorraine Simonds (’09) has joined

Dr. Robert Cranford Smith (’52)

the staff of Eye Consultants of Atlanta as an ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon.

died Jan. 19.

Dr. Mary Beth Whittaker Smith (’10) has returned to Bainbridge, Ga., to practice pediatrics in her hometown. She joined the staff and physicians at Memorial Pediatrics after completing her residency in pediatrics at the Greenville Health System in Greenville, S.C.

Dr. Samuel Harvey (’90), died Oct. 5. Dr. Herbert E. Niebergs (faculty) died June 8.

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A Big Finish Third-year MCG student Aubrey Armento finished first in the female division of the GRU Augusta Half Marathon with a time of 1:31:42. The event, which included a health and fitness expo, was held Feb. 22-23 in downtown Augusta.