The mission of the Mercer University School of Medicine is to educate physicians and other health professionals to meet the primary and ancillary healthcare needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia.  For more than 10 years prior to the School’s inception, Community leaders had been aware that the health-related and medical services available to the residents of rural Georgia had become increasingly inadequate, and that this trend would continue unless a specific effort was made to address it.

In 1969, the Bibb County medical Society endorsed a resolution urging legislators to establish a medical school in Macon. During the early 1970s, a group of medical and community leaders spearheaded an effort to develop a medical school with the specific mission of addressing the health and medical needs of rural Georgians.  Such community groups as the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce, the Macon-Bibb County Hospital Authority, the Mercer University Board of Trustees, Macon’s Mayor and City Council, and the Bibb County Board of Commissioners endorsed the idea of establishing such a school. Throughout the planning years, necessary support continued from the community and the State. The Georgia General Assembly appropriated five million dollars for the School’s initial development.

During the formative years, the community continued to support the School. The Macon City Council and the Bibb County Commission appropriated operating funds, a bond issue of seven million dollars was approved by the Macon citizens, and a referendum was passed designating funds for the medical school education facility. The charter class was graduated in 1986. During that period and subsequently, the State Legislature has supported the existence of the School with annual appropriations.

As the School developed, the scope of its mission expanded to address needs in health-care areas ancillary to the practice of medicine.  Masters Degree Programs in Family Therapy, Family Services, Public Health, and Nurse Anesthesia were developed.

Continuing education programs that encompass the professional development needs of all graduates are conducted at the School and in affiliate teaching hospitals. Programs have been offered by Mercer University School of Medicine in collaboration with the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon since 1984, and at the branch campus affiliate hospital, Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, since 1999.