MACON/SAVANNAH/COLUMBUS/VALDOSTA — Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) recently recognized 10 new Nathan Deal Scholars for the 2025-26 academic year. The prestigious scholarship honors medical students committed to improving access to health care in Georgia’s rural underserved communities.
This year’s class of Nathan Deal Scholars are:
- Kaitlyn Bennett of Canon
- Allie Dishman of Bowdon
- Callie Hill of Commerce
- Kennia Kirksey of Waycross
- Shelby Knowles of Valdosta
- Kiersten Ley of Naylor
- Sydnee Nix of Cleveland
- Elijah Pyrz of Cairo
- Gracie Surratt of Bainbridge
- Lilah Widner of Bainbridge
The 10 students join 113 other Nathan Deal Scholars in advancing MUSM’s mission to prepare physicians for service in rural underserved areas of Georgia. Three members of the program’s inaugural class have already completed their service commitments and continue practicing in rural communities.
The 2025 scholars were honored at a luncheon on Oct. 2, attended by former Gov. Nathan Deal, Mercer University President William D. Underwood and state legislators. During the event, Donna Evans, M.D., FAAP, received the 2025 Sandra Dunagan Deal Rural Service Award, established in 2022 to honor Georgia’s former first lady. Each year, Nathan Deal Scholars select the recipient who best exemplifies Sandra Deal’s selfless devotion, love for education and promotion of excellence.
Nathan Deal Scholars are selected based on their strong ties to rural Georgia, as well as their character, leadership, community involvement and their likelihood of serving in a rural underserved community after their scholarship obligations are met. Each recipient receives 85%–100% of tuition for up to four academic years.
“The Nathan Deal Scholarship enables and supports students who want to return to rural Georgia communities to become outstanding physicians, reflecting the highest commitment to excellence in rural health,” said Jean R. Sumner, M.D., dean of MUSM. “These scholarships remove the significant financial burden of medical school debt, which has been perceived as an obstacle for physicians going to rural areas. With this opportunity, students are empowered to return to the communities who need them most—the small towns they know and love.”
The Nathan Deal Scholarship is funded through a $35 million endowment established in 2016 after Georgia received settlement proceeds from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Gov. Deal, who was Georgia’s governor at the time of the settlement, and state legislative leaders directed a one-time appropriation of funds to MUSM, which used the allocation to create the endowment. MUSM committed to providing perpetual support for the scholarship program and to preparing more than 100 physicians within 10 years to serve Georgia’s 120 rural-designated counties. Since the program’s launch in 2017, more than $14 million in awards have been granted.
About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah, Columbus and Valdosta)
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 and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, more than 60% of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80% 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.
