Georgia Leaders Formally Adopt New MCG Governance Structure

AUGUSTA – Governor Sonny Perdue today joined Augusta and University System of Georgia officials to celebrate the formal adoption of a new governance structure that optimally aligns the Medical College of Georgia’s clinical and academic missions.

“Georgians have benefitted from the different components of MCG for decades, but we believe this new era of collaboration ushered in today will provide even more benefits for doctors, students and patients,” Governor Perdue said. “This day is exciting because a strong, well-designed MCG health system will free people up to do what they do best … caring for the sick and preparing the next generation of doctors.”

New MCG President Ricardo Azziz, who officially became president of the university today, assumes overall responsibility for the college’s clinical, educational and research activities.

“This is a momentous day for the state’s health sciences university as we move to a governance structure that maximizes the talent, energy and synergy of our faculty, staff, students and clinical enterprise,” said Azziz, MCG's eighth president. “It is a momentous day for me as well as I am privileged to assume the presidency of an organization so vital to the well-being of Georgia.”

A decade ago, economic considerations prompted the University System of Georgia to create separate management structures for the campus, its clinical facilities and the Physicians Practice Group, the practice plan for MCG physicians.

On June 8, the Board of Regents of the University System approved a new structure effective July 1 that coordinates strategic planning of MCG’s clinical and educational activities by creating a 16-member MCG Health System, Inc. Board of Directors. The board will govern MCG Health Inc., the organization that manages the hospitals and clinics, and the Physicians Practice Group.

Azziz will chair the MCG Health System as well as the MCGHI Board of Directors. Sandra I. McVicker, interim president of MCGHI, and Dr. Stil E. Kountakis, vice chairman of the School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and the new chairman of the PPG Foundation, will serve on the MCG Health System board.

“Our intent is to strengthen the accountability for and the governance of the entire MCG operation through a more coordinated approach,” said Regent Felton Jenkins, who chaired a regents subcommittee studying the organization.

In March, the USG selected Azziz, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and vice chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California, Los Angeles, to lead the university.

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