Based in Savannah and Brunswick, Augusta University has announced Dr. Elizabeth Gray as the founding dean of the Medical College of Georgia – Georgia Southern Partnership campus.
In May of 2023, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved $1.7 million for renovations to the Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong Campus in Savannah to establish this new campus.
The campus, which is slated to open in the fall of 2024, will be the third four-year campus of the state’s only public medical school. It will also allow the medical college, one of the nation’s largest medical schools by class size, to increase its enrollment from 264 students per class to 304, and ultimately produce more physicians for the state.
“I’m very excited about taking on the challenge. I think we have a big push ahead of us over the next year, because we’re attempting to admit 40 students by next fall. We’re already recruiting for those students, so it’s definitely an exciting time,” Gray said.
Gray, a current associate dean at the Southeast Campus which is home to around 80 third- and fourth-year students, has taught many scholars how to live and learn in the area since 2020.
“Dr. Gray has a long history of leadership in medical education,” said MCG Dean Dr. David Hess. “Not only has she worked diligently to strengthen and grow relationships with our clinical partners, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System and many other community stakeholders in Savannah, she has also built a community research program for students at that campus, while, at the same time, expertly guiding them through the clinical phase of their medical education. I know her experience and great reputation will be tremendous assets as we continue to grow our presence in Southeast Georgia.”
Gray came to MCG following her time Nova Southeastern University School of Allopathic Medicine in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where she was director of the facility’s clinical sciences and clerkship curriculum, and helped develop learning objectives for students. As a founding faculty member, she also authored accreditation standards for the school, directed the clinical simulation and standardized patient programs.
She earned her medical degree and a master’s in business administration from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, and completed her internal medicine residency at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Georgia Southern, Dr. Carl Reiber, said the college was excited to move forward with the Augusta University partnership and working with Gray to ensure the staff meets the needs of providing greater access to education and training for medical students, while trying to ease the state’s ongoing shortage of physicians.
“Georgia ranks 40th out of all 50 states in the number of active primary care physicians and active physicians overall. Also 89 of our 150 or so counties have healthcare shortage areas, and that includes a lot of the areas that our new campus is going to cover here in coastal Georgia,” Gray said. “Moving those admissions numbers up to 304 is going to move our school from number eight or nine, in terms of population, to number two or three, and MCG has this strong mission of recruiting students from Georgia so that they become state physicians.”
As campus dean, Gray will be charged with developing a long-term vision, a leadership team, as well as setting goals and priorities for the campus. She will also be working with hospital partners, such as St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System and others, to advance clinical education opportunities for students and expand future graduate medical instruction prospects.
“Dr. Gray has been the associate dean of the MCG clinical campus here at St. Joseph’s/Candler for the last three years, and in that time, we have gotten to know her as a well-respected administrator and teacher,” said Paul Hinchey, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System. “She is highly respected by our medical faculty. The medical students graduating from the campus are top-notch. With Dr. Gray leading the new four-year medical campus here in Savannah, I see the relationship between MCG and St. Joseph’s/Candler growing even stronger and providing a key resource for our health care community.”
Gray said she is most looking forward to being heavily involved with student learning and engagement as a dean, as well as offering the same innovative Augusta MCG curriculum in Savannah.
“At the end of the day, my mom was a teacher and it’s really fun to be able to connect with students, especially early in their education,” she said. “All of the opportunities that students would get in Augusta – in terms of small group learning, problem-based curriculum, the opportunity to get into a dual-degree program and the chance to jump into residency after three years – those will all be exactly the same on our campus.”
Gray said she likes to think about two campuses as almost twins, because she plans on taking all of MCG’s best practices from the original campus in Augusta and implementing them in Savannah’s community.
“We’re going to work very hard to make sure students get that mirrored experience .. and hopefully, when students graduate too some of them will come back and teach with me,” she said. “There’s a big sense of community here in Savannah … Savannah is the home for a lot of firsts, and so we’re really proud of being part of this community and continuing to push forward with efforts in community health.”
For those looking to study health in Savannah, Gray said her ultimate goal is to highlight the area’s immense community and the local staff’s deep passion in imbedding positive changes within it.
For more information about the new Georgia Southeast Campus and its ongoing renovations, visit: https://www.georgiasouthern.edu/
