Governor's Newsletter, Winter 1998
Special Edition on the 1998 Medical Student Summer Mentoring Program

Mark E. Silverman, MD, FACP
Governor for Georgia

The Georgia Chapter of the ACP and Georgia's four medical schools continue to expand the Summer Preceptorship in Internal Medicine for students between their first and second years of medical school. The goal of the program is to expose students to general internists early in their medical school experience. The objectives for the program are to:

  1. highlight the importance of Internal Medicine,
  2. allow students the opportunity to work closely with a general internist,
  3. provide the general internist the opportunity to teach and understand today's medical student, and,
  4. encourage students to select careers in Internal Medicine.

Since the program began in the summer of 1995, fifty-seven students have participated. The students follow their preceptor for one month observing what it is like to be a practicing general internist. The popularity of the program and the level of student interest continues to grow. Our goal for the 1997 program was for 50 students to participate; however, funding was available for only thirty students. One hundred and three students submitted applications to participate and 43 practicing physicians volunteered to be preceptors. Thirty students from the state's medical schools were selected by a lottery system to participate and each institution had an assigned number of opportunities. Students were eligible for the lottery if they were a member of the ACP. Funds for the program were generously contributed by PROMINA Health System, the Departments of Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Mercer University School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Georgia Chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Representative Students Comments

One student commented that "this experience was without a doubt the single most exciting learning experience thus far in my medical education." Another commented that "I had an incredible experience with a very patient teacher as a preceptor. I saw many interesting patients, learned a great deal of medicine, and gained a greater understanding of internal medicine." Responses to the question, "What did you enjoy the most about the experience?" were as follows: "The interaction with my preceptor and his patients," "Working oneon-one with my preceptor," "Interacting with patients and learning how my mentor deals with the many complex issues," and "Seeing the interaction between the doctor and patients."

Representative Mentor Comments

In response to a similar survey, the preceptors' comments to the question "How would you describe your overall experience?" included "It was a positive to me and my office staff," "We both learned a great deal and I would strongly recommend this to others," and "Superb, very rewarding."

Invitation to participate in the 1998 Summer Program

We are inviting primary care internists to participate in several ways, either volunteering as a preceptor or in helping fund a stipend for a student. If you are willing to volunteer or want more information, please complete the form in this newsletter and return it to Andy Albritton. The program is very popular with medical students and we hope to expand the opportunities for students to participate.

I tremendously appreciate support given me by Mark Silverman, Linda Mason, and Cathy Andrews and dedicate this newsletter to those students and preceptors that have been involved with the program. Thank you for making the program a success.

T. Andrew Albritton, MD
Chair, Medical Student Mentoring Program

Thanks to the 1997 Summer Mentors

April Barbour, MD
Megan Cook, MD
Everett Cooper, MD
Adrian Douglass, MD
T. Ferran, MD
Jacqueline Fincher, MD
Joel Fine, MD
Sandra Fryhofer, MD
Kirk Garner, MD
Greg Grisso, MD
David Horwitz, MD
Azmi Kabbani, MD
Richard Kaplan, MD
Richard Kauffman, MD		 Vinay Kautamneni, MD
Coleman King, MD
Katherine Kostakos, MD
Robert Lathan, MD
Maggie Mermin, MD
Kathy Minter, MD
Ben Okel, MD
Joseph Ratchford, MD
George Shannon, MD
Wyman Sloan, MD
Fred Teixeira, MD
Imani Vannoy, MD
Alisha Watson, MD
Fred Young, MD

We appreciate the time and effort that was put into the program. The experience was invaluable for the students.

Thanks to the Freshman Students Who Participated in Our 1997 Summer Mentoring Program

Naureen Adam, Medical Coll of GA
Monica Armstead, Mercer
Satya Atmakuri, Emory
Joseph Barney, Mercer
Daniel Blankenship, Medical Coll of GA
Mindy Brown, Medical Coll of GA
Kenyetta Brummitt, Morehouse
Thomas Carollo, Emory
David Eddleman, Emory
Daniel Feldman, Medical Coll of GA
Henry Garrard, Medical Coll of GA
Micha Joffe, Emory
James Kiley, Medical Coll of GA
Brent Kinder, Emory
Wendy Kloth, Medical Coll of GA		 Christine Ko, Emory
Bridget McCord, Mercer
Tasha Merritt, Morehouse
Rana Munna, Mercer
Tao Nguyen, Medical Coll of GA
Emmanuel Ogbulu, Morehouse
Ronald Perry, Medical Coll of GA
Caroline Plowden, Emory
Suma Ramesh, Mercer
Sybil Ann Russell, Emory
Donaid Silverman, Medical Coll of GA
Greta Sybers, Emory
Sasha Thomas, Emory
Elizabeth Tong, Mercer

Congratulations to New Fellows Elected November 1997

Annette Bernard, Atlanta
Robert Burt, Gainesville
Kathy Chu, Savannah
Guy Easterling, Hawkinsville
Samuel Erinne, Kennesaw
Kenny Frontin, Atlanta
Kirk Garner, Atlanta
Sudershan Hooda, Milledgeville
John Hostetler, Rome		 Robert Kaufmann, Atlanta
Brian Kim, Savannah
Fred Levin, Atlanta
Marshall Levine, Atlanta
Devon Lowdon, Atlanta
Ilenry Patton, Covington
Phillip Poulos, Albany
James Stillerman, Conagton
Edmund Waller, Atlanta

What's New

Contact Information

Vincent Nicolais, MD, FACP,
Governor, Georgia Chapter

Karen Townsend
Executive Director
Ph: 770-693-9973
Georgia Chapter

Michelle Dietz
Administrative Assistant
Ph: 770-920-6995