Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) educates physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and healthcare needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. The school’s rigorous, engaging and collaborative academic environment fosters the development of community responsive health care leaders.
MUSM was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and healthcare needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, most of its graduates practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80% are practicing in rural or 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 of Medicine opened a full four-year campus in Savannah in 2008 at Memorial University Medical Center. In 2012, the School began offering clinical education for third- and fourth-year medical students in Columbus. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School’s primary teaching hospitals: Memorial University Medical Center/HCA, Savannah; Piedmont Columbus Regional, Columbus; St. Francis Hospital/Emory Healthcare, Columbus; Medical Center at Navicent Health, Macon; and Coliseum Medical Center/HCA in Macon. The School also offers master’s degrees in family therapy, preclinical sciences and biomedical sciences and a Ph.D. in rural health sciences.
MUSM is recognized for its patient-based learning and integrated system-oriented basic science curriculum during the preclinical years, an accelerated track program in family medicine and internal medicine, and a recognized focus on the community. As a demonstration of the commitment to community-based practice, medical students complete 10 weeks of required rotations in rural and/or medically underserved areas as a key component of their education. MUSM accepts only Georgia residents into the undergraduate medical education program. Upon completion of residency, approximately two-thirds of students return to Georgia to practice; 80% of these physicians practice in a rural or underserved area.
In addition to medical education, MUSM offers three graduate programs: a Master of Family Therapy through the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a Master of Biomedical Sciences and a Master of Preclinical Sciences through the Department of Biomedical Sciences.