School of Medicine
The establishment of the UGA School of Medicine comes as the state faces a significant shortage of medical professionals. Georgia currently ranks 40th in the nation for the number of active physicians per capita and 41st for the number of public medical students per capita.
As a top 20 public university with a thriving research enterprise and vast public service network, UGA is well positioned to produce more highly trained physicians, alleviate physician shortages, and improve the state’s ability to provide quality health care for its citizens.
Thanks to generous support from the state and private donations, UGA is building a new medical facility on the Health Sciences Campus. The $50 million state investment will be matched with private contributions to build a $100 million state-of-the-art research and educational facility.
Nuss Awarded
Lamartine Hardman Cup
Dr. Shelley Nuss, founding dean of University of Georgia School of Medicine, was awarded the 2023 Lamartine Hardman Cup from the Medical Association of Georgia. One of the association's highest honors, the award recognizes a physician who has solved a problem in public health or contributed to the science of medicine, including—but not limited to—excellence in the field of medical education.
"As a land-grant university and Georgia’s flagship research institution, the University of Georgia is uniquely positioned to address the health care needs of our state through world-class medical education, research, and community outreach."
- PRESIDENT JERE W. MOREHEAD
Caring for Our State
The UGA School of Medicine is committed to bringing more highly-trained doctors to Georgia. The new medical school builds on the success of the Augusta University/UGA Medical Partnership, which has delivered medical education and care to the Athens community since 2010. Of the graduates who have completed their residencies, 79 of the 206 Medical Partnership alumni returned to practice in Georgia, serving as primary care doctors (family medicine, obstetrics, and gynecology) and specialists ranging from endocrinologists to pediatric neurologists.
Take Hammad Aslam, who enrolled in the Medical Partnership’s inaugural class. Dr. Aslam returned to Georgia after completing a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a spinal cord injury fellowship at Stanford University. He is now the medical director at Glancy Inpatient Rehabilitation Center Duluth.
“I did interview for jobs with larger spinal cord injury centers around the U.S., but there’s nothing that competes with being here, being close to home, and serving my community,” Aslam said.
Mark Tompkins UGA Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Virology and Immunology
Learn MoreInterdisciplinary Research Centers
When great minds work together, ideas turn into innovation. Researchers at the University collaborate across disciplines to tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems.
Steven Stice, director of UGA’s Regenerative Bioscience Center and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, announced that a new stroke therapeutic for chronic inflammation-based diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, will soon be headed to clinical trials. Researchers at the center have also been awarded multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $1.1 million to study potential treatments for traumatic brain injury.
The Center on Human Trafficking Research and Outreach (CenHTRO) has identified nearly 300 trafficking cases and trained more than 4,000 individuals in prevention, protection, and prosecution response to human trafficking. Led by UGA Athletic Association Professor David Okech, CenHTRO recently received $5.2 million from the U.S. Department of State to leverage its interdisciplinary approach to combat labor trafficking in Malawi and Zambia.
The Center for Vaccines and Immunology operates with a diverse set of experts in infectious disease, veterinary medicine, ecology, and public health. Together, they are setting new standards in immunology and vaccine development. Chet Joyner, a faculty member at the Center for Vaccines and Immunology and the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine, received a $1.1 million grant to perform preclinical testing of a malaria vaccine that will prevent reinfection.
