SAVANNAH – Dr. Robert J. Shelley, currently associate dean for student affairs in Savannah for Mercer University School of Medicine, has been appointed interim dean of the Savannah campus.
Dr. William F. Bina III, dean of the School of Medicine, recently announced that Dr. Shelley's appointment will be effective July 1, when current dean of the Savannah campus Dr. T. Philip Malan Jr. plans to step down.
“Dr. Malan has provided three years of top-notch service to the School of Medicine as dean of the Savannah campus and vice dean of the School,” said Dr. Bina.
“Dr. Shelley has played a key role as associate dean for student affairs on the Savannah campus since January 2012. He is a highly regarded local pediatrician who practiced for about 30 years in Savannah before joining the School. He will serve us well in the interim period.”
A search committee has been named and will begin its work immediately under the leadership of Dr. Steve Carpenter, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in Savannah, with the assistance of executive search firm Alexander, Wollman and Stark.
The committee includes Dr. Marie Dent, associate dean of faculty affairs in Savannah; Dr. Mark Murphy, a member of the Memorial University Medical Center board of directors; Dr. Robert Pallay, chair of the Department of Family Medicine in Savannah; Dr. Edward Perkins, associate professor of genetics; Dr. Chris Senkowski, chair of the Department of Surgery in Savannah; Dr. Tina Thompson, senior associate dean of academic affairs in Savannah; and Dr. Robert Visalli, associate professor of microbiology.
About the 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 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 and a Ph.D. and Psy.D. in clinical medical psychology.
