Brian Anderson, President and CEO of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, is excited about a major project moving forward in downtown Columbus– Mercer University’s plans to open a four-year medical school campus.
“There has been a lot of work put into this project, and the pieces finally came together,” said Anderson. “We have the funding in place — thanks to a combination of public and private money — and we are ready to move forward. This is exciting news for Columbus, but also for a lot of rural communities around us who rely on Columbus as their medical hub.
“Through this campus, we have the ability to train many doctors who will be practicing in rural and underserved areas of our state.”
Larry Brumlow, Chief of Staff for the President of Mercer University, confirmed Wednesday that Mercer is expanding the two-year medical college in Columbus to a four-year campus — following the model used in Savannah several years ago. He said he expects about 240 students at the Columbus campus — about the same number of students at each of the campuses in Macon and Savannah.
Private funders were able to raise enough funds to secure a Synovus building in downtown Columbus. Anderson said plans are now underway to begin the hiring phase of architects in the next five or six weeks. The hiring of staff will follow, Anderson said. In a medical college staff must be in place a year before teaching students, meaning the first class should enter Mercer in Columbus in the Fall of 2021, he said.
State money was included in the supplemental budget, Anderson said.
Mercer has been training third and fourth year medical students in Columbus the past few years. In 2012, the first cohort of medical students moved to Columbus to begin their clinical education in partnership with Columbus Regional Midtown Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital.
“Columbus has a lot of great things going for it,” said Anderson, who has served as head of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce for the past four years. “We have worked very hard to make Columbus a great place to work and live. We have done a lot to build up the downtown area, with new restaurants, the opening of the Columbus State School of Music, and the upcoming opening of a new upscale multi-family complex along the river. This is another jewel in the crown, and we are extremely excited about it.”
A formal announcement about the project will be made in a press conference in the next few weeks.
