The Carrollton community and leaders from across the state of Georgia gathered at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton on Friday, July 17, to celebrate the opening of Tanner Health and Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM)’s clinical campus and simulation lab. Tanner has partnered with MUSM to establish a clinical campus in Carrollton, where third- and fourth-year students will live and work for their final two years of medical school.

"This clinical campus represents an investment in the future of health care for our region," said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health. "By partnering with Mercer University School of Medicine, we're helping educate the next generation of physicians while giving students the opportunity to train in the communities that need them most. We hope many of these future physicians will choose to build their careers here, strengthening access to high-quality care for generations to come."

The Carrollton campus features a dedicated medical education unit within the main Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton campus at 705 Dixie Street. The site offers all Year 3 core clerkships and electives, as well as the sub-internship, elective and required rotations for Year 4 of MUSM’s MD program.

Tanner Health serves a multi-county region, much of it rural, making its Carrollton clinical campus a strategic addition to Mercer’s existing campus locations and advancing the School’s mission. The first group of seven third-year medical students transferred to Carrollton from MUSM’s Columbus, Macon and Savannah campuses and will begin clinical rotations in early August.

"We are honored to partner with Tanner Health as we expand our mission in west Georgia. Our students have had quality experiences training with Tanner Health in Carrollton and Villa Rica during their population health and rural clerkships. We're excited to expand that partnership with our newest two-year clinical campus,” said Jean Sumner, MD, MACP, dean of MUSM. “Our commitment to serving rural, medically underserved Georgia remains unwavering. We are here to serve the healthcare needs of our state, and we're proud to become part of the Carrollton community.”

Mercer only admits Georgia residents to its MD program and prioritizes students from rural areas. Opening a clinical site in Carrollton expands the School’s reach to a critical medically underserved region. In addition to Tanner Health, students will rotate through clerkships at other regional facilities.

In addition to Howard and Dr. Sumner, those who spoke at the event included Penny L. Elkins, Ph.D., Mercer University president; Tim Paul, MD, associate dean of the Carrollton campus and senior vice president of medical affairs and chief quality officer for Tanner Health; and Daniel Jackson, chairman of Tanner Health’s board of directors.

Dr. Paul recognized the clinical clerkship directors who will guide curriculum and rotations, including Daniel Feckoury, MD (family medicine); Kenneth Genova, MD (psychiatry); Barry Harris, MD, FACS (surgery); Amanda Nguyen, MD (pediatrics); Emily Shelton, MD (obstetrics and gynecology); and Jesse Singh, MD (internal medicine).

The event included guided tours and demonstrations in the newly constructed medical simulation center, which will allow enable medical practice activities, including standardized patient encounters, to be provided on-site.

About Tanner Health

Tanner Health is a five-hospital non-profit health system providing convenient, personalized health care to communities across west Georgia and east Alabama. Tanner Health physicians and staff provide the latest technology and treatment options to advance the health of its patients. In addition to five regional hospitals and care centers, Tanner operates Tanner Medical Group, one of metro Atlanta’s largest multi-specialty physician groups. Learn more at tanner.org.

About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah and Columbus)

Mercer University’s School of Medicine was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, more than 60 percent of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80 percent are practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-based medical education program that provides early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an awareness of the place of the basic medical sciences in medical practice. The School opened additional four-year M.D. campuses in Savannah in 2008 and in Columbus in 2021, and a clinical campus in Valdosta in 2024. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School’s primary teaching hospitals: Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center and Piedmont Macon Medical Center in Macon; Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah; Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus; and SGMC Health in Valdosta. The School also offers master’s degrees in preclinical sciences and family therapy and Ph.D.s in biomedical sciences and rural health sciences.