MACON – Dr. Jean R. Sumner, dean of Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM), recently announced the appointment of Chris Scoggins as director of educational outreach.
Scoggins will succeed Laura Bland, director of community outreach and population health, as she transitions to oversee the Nathan Deal Scholarship exclusively.
“Chris Scoggins has been an outstanding MUSM leader. His acceptance of the role of director of educational outreach will confirm our commitment to continued outreach and building the pipeline systems of this state,” said Dr. Sumner. “He has done an outstanding job and will continue to do so.”
Scoggins earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from Mercer and completed Master of Public Health training in the School of Medicine in 2013. He returned to the medical school in 2015 to join the staff on the Columbus campus.
Prior to his appointment as director of educational outreach, Scoggins served as assistant director of community outreach and population health and as community medicine preceptor network director. He is currently an instructor in the Department of Community Medicine.
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 healthcare needs of rural and 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 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: Medical Center, Navicent Health in Macon; Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah; and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The School also offers master’s degrees in family therapy, preclinical sciences and biomedical sciences.
