Medical College of Georgia names founding dean as Savannah program prepares to expand

Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that the two-year MCG clinical program in Savannah was begun in 2011 in partnership with St. Joseph's/Candler only.

Just this week, Hyundai announced an additional $2 billion investment in its metaplant project, which aims to add 400 more jobs for a total of 8,500. Bryan County is racing to build nearly 10,000 new homes to accommodate those workers and their families, many of whom will be coming from out of state. While the counties scramble to scale a variety of services, Paul P. Hinchey, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s/Candler, has asserted the regional health system plans to address the burgeoning population’s healthcare needs.

“We’ve got three buildings that we’ve got to have open between January 2024 and July 2024,” Hinchey said. He was referring to the SJ/C Pooler and Heartwood campuses that recently received approval by the Savannah Hospital Authority.

Next comes the challenge of filling all those tens of thousands of square-footage with healthcare professionals.

7,700 square-foot clinic in works: Health care on site: St. Joseph's/Candler to open medical clinic at Hyundai Metaplant

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Dr. Elizabeth Gray tapped to lead Medical College of Georgia program expansion

In 2011, Augusta University Medical College of Georgia (MCG) established a two-year clinical program in conjunction with St. Joseph’s/Candler based at the Heart and Lung Building adjacent to Candler Hospital off Reynolds Street.

On Aug. 9, 2023, Augusta University announced that Dr. Elizabeth Gray would become the founding dean of the new four-year MCG Southeast Campus in Savannah/Brunswick. Gray was previously the associate dean at Savannah’s two-year, clinically focused regional campus. As campus dean, Gray will be charged with developing a long-term vision and setting goals and priorities for the campus. She will set about developing a leadership team as well as working with hospital partners, such as St. Joseph’s/Candler, to develop clinical education opportunities for students, as well as future graduate medical education opportunities.

As of right now, Gray and one other administrative staff member are the only paid employees. The current clinical faculty are volunteer independent practitioners that work out of St. Joseph’s/Candler. So, first up on her priority list will be hiring the first- and second-year faculty.

A key role she's looking to fill this month is with the preclinical team. "Then the other faculty positions will follow our big hiring push, which is likely to happen in the spring."

MCG needs faculty who can deliver expert content in anatomy, biochemistry and physiology. Gray will also be looking for professionals with backgrounds in student affairs and career advising.

The other major component of her new role will be to help oversee the enhancement of the physical classroom space at partner institution Georgia Southern University. In May, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved a $1.69 million bond to renovate 23,000 square feet of space at the Armstrong Center and Health Professions Building at GSU.

Focus on Retaining Medical Professionals in Savannah

In addition to the Savannah/Brunswick Southeast Campus, MCG has campuses in Augusta, Albany, Athens and Rome. The two-year program in Savannah has had about 80 third- and fourth-year students since 2020. While MCG is already one of the nation’s largest medical schools by class size, the expanded Savannah program aims to increase overall MCG enrollment from 264 students per class to 304. Gray hopes the expansion to a four-year program will do more than simply bring more students the Savannah area.

“We're thinking about how we make sure that we're involving people from our community and giving them opportunities to go to medical school."

She is hopeful that when MCG expands its footprint they can get local people excited about studying in their own backyard. “We look to strengthen the pipelines that we already have.”

One of those pipelines is MCG's Student Educational Enrichment Program (SEEP). SEEP Savannah is a six-week program for current high school juniors and seniors. It prepares students for a future career in the health professions through an extensive academic program that includes a noncredit general, introductory biomedical science course that prepares students for upper-level premedical science coursework; critical thinking and clinical-based, problem-solving skills development; and pre-professional and personal development. “We invite them to go to the medical college and participate in a summer program so they can see themselves as medical students."

For students who might be coming to MCG outside of Savannah, she knows the city entices people on its own, "but above all it’s a sense of community that brings [medical students] back after they complete their residencies."

Student-centered focus

Gray and the volunteer faculty have cultivated a student-centered environment at MCG. That means providing resources such as a burnout inventory for students to complete when they are feeling overwhelmed. Gray said, “We want students to understand that you can have a bad day. You can have a bad week, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to have a bad career.”

The program also places an emphasis on learning that has students deal with real-world scenarios. Gone are the days of only highlighting textbooks and attending lecture halls. For example, every Monday students participate in case study classes where they sit down in small groups to tackle a patient’s case as if it’s the real thing. Students typically finish a case study in a couple of hours. Some of the topics range from picking a course of action for a patient who might not have insurance that covers a certain procedure. Students debate among their small team about how to address these challenges.

Third-year student Tommy Bui, who is currently pursuing ophthalmology, agreed that the newer instruction approaches are more effective. “If you were going to watch a physician practice on a day-to-day basis, you would watch them look at enzymes for glycolysis and they’re going to look at their patient and guidelines of decision making. It just translates better than sitting in a lecture all day.”

Bui also said, “I don’t think we emphasize this enough, but Dr. Gray, is undeniably one of the most committed faculty members. The students are happy because we follow Dr. Gray's example. I think a lot of the clinical faculty follow her example, too.”

Hinchey also praised Gray and indicated she was the obvious choice to shepherd the growth of the program. “She knows what it's like to be sitting across from a patient, she's a clinician, and that is very helpful when one is trying to teach. She's [also] a very empathic person. Then thirdly, her administrative skills…in dealing with independent faculty.” Most medical schools have a structured hierarchy of a dean overseeing employed faculty. He acknowledged that managing relationships outside that kind of model could be challenging. He avowed, however, that Dr. Gray knows, the art of building relationships which has led to her being, “highly respected by our medical faculty."

The four-year MCG Southeast campus will enroll its first round of students in Fall 2024.

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at jschwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Medical College of Georgia names dean of four-year southeast campus