Medical College of Georgia

At a rally outside the Medical College of Georgia a group of dental hygiene students hold picket signs and shout “Honk for hygiene!” at passing cars. They are among MCG students whose programs could be eliminated due to state budget cuts. First year nuclear medicine student Patrick Jackson organized the protest. He says that while MCG officials have offered help to ensure students are able to graduate, he isn’t completely happy with their solution. "We don’t want to finish somewhere else," Jackson said. "We came to Medical College of Georgia because we want a degree from Medical College of Georgia." The protest comes as MCG officials are faced with possible cuts of more than $25 million due to dwindling state funds.

At a town hall meeting earlier this week MCG students expressed outrage toward school officials after it was announced that proposed cuts included several of its degree programs. MCG Provost Barry Goldstein hopes to quiet some of those fears with a plan that would ensure students are able to graduate even if their programs were to be eliminated. "What we would do is use any tuition increases that the Board of Regents Approves plus the current tuition that is coming in for the programs and then any other one-time funds that we would typically use for expenses like equipment or renovations to offset the cost until students have the opportunity to finish the degree programs," said Goldstein. Governor Perdue vowed this week to prevent the legislature from making extreme cuts to the university system.

At the state capitol, lawmakers on Wednesday are once again taking up the budget for the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents. It's the first hearing since university presidents on Monday recommended thousands of layoffs, elimination of degree programs and a substantial drop in student enrollment to meet an additional $300 million in cuts for next fiscal year, on top of the $365 million proposed by Governor Sonny Perdue. Outside of the Gold Dome, the news of the possible budget cuts hit hard. In meetings at campuses across the state, students, faculty and staff expressed fear and anger. In a town hall meeting at the Medical College of Georgia on Tuesday, Randy Bogan said he didn't know what he would do if he couldn't finish his respiratory therapy degree. "We have made great sacrifices, including my wife, that I might be here...and we had great plans for the future," said Bogan, who left his job as a lab technician recently to pursue his degree. "My wife doesn't even know about this and I've been sitting back there thinking, 'How am I going to go home and tell this to my wife that there's a possibility that I might not graduate from here and I've got to go somewhere else and start all over again?" MCG officials repeatedly told people in the crowded auditorium that the proposed budget reductions were just "scenarios," and that they won't happen if the legislature can find another way to plug the shortfall. They also said they hope officials will see the "human cost" of what can happen if the additional cuts are made.

This morning a committee of state lawmakers will gather to consider cuts proposed by the state’s University System. A plan offered Monday by System officials includes proposals to close satellite campuses, cutting back on hours for libraries and student centers, and capping enrollments. It’s all in the effort to try to meet the request of lawmakers to come up with another $300 million in cuts, on top of hundreds of millions of cuts already proposed for next fiscal year. In east Georgia Tuesday, students, faculty and staff expressed anger in a town hall meeting at the Medical College of Georgia. Randy Bogan is a first year student studying respiratory therapy. "We have made great sacrifices...including my wife that I might be here. How am I going to go home and tell this to my wife that there's a possibility that I might not graduate from here...and I've got to go somewhere else and start all over again?" MCG is facing possible cuts of more than $25 million. Students worry that they may not be able to transfer to other schools, or that their student loans might be in jeopardy if drastic cuts are indeed made.

The Board of Regents met Tuesday morning to confirm Dr. Ricardo Azziz as the new president of MCG. Azziz currently chairs the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles California. He also holds leadership positions at UCLA. Azziz comes to MCG as the institution faces more than $25 million in budget cuts on top of the $30 million in cuts it has already seen in less than 2 years. Azziz says one way he plans to address the cuts is by prioritizing the funding of programs at MCG. "We probably will not be able to be everything to everybody but there will be some areas that we will excel at and those areas we may have to invest more," Azziz said. The announcement coincides with a joint press conference hosted by MCG and Augusta State University on the University System’s growing budget crisis.

Georgia's public universities and colleges say they'll have to cut more than 4000 jobs, eliminate degree programs and dramatically cap student enrollment if they have to make $300 million in cuts next fiscal year. The cuts would mean unprecedented layoffs of tenured professors, says Regents Chancellor Errol Davis, and require the University System of Georgia's Board of Regents to, in effect, declare bankruptcy. The proposed budget reductions come after the joint House and Senate appropriations committee asked Chancellor Erroll Davis to try and cut $300 million, on top of $265 million in cuts already proposed by Governor Sonny Perdue. Lawmakers are trying to plug a $1 billion shortfall in the state budget without raising taxes. The cuts outlined today represent only the additional $300 million requested by legislators. "We strongly believe that cuts of this nature, if implemented, would severely compromise our ability to provide the educated populace that is necessary for the continued success of this state," Davis wrote in a letter to Senator Seth Harp and Representative Earl Ehrhart, chairmen of the joint legislative committee. Here are some highlights: *University of Georgia: Layoffs and positions eliminated would total 1418. Other proposed actions -- reduce incoming student body by 1500, eliminate 4-H programs, close half of UGA's county extension projects, close Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center, reduce state funding for Vet Med Teaching Hospital by 66 percent and eliminate funding to staff WUGA-FM, a GPB member station. *Georgia Tech: Layoffs and positions eliminated would total 452. Other proposed actions -- Decrease admissions by 20 percent, reduce course offerings by 540 sections, reduce graduate teaching positions by 120 per semester. The school also expects a loss of $60 million to 100 million in sponsored research revenue and 150-200 research positions. *Medical College of Georgia: Cuts would mean 155 fewer students at a time that Georgia is trying to train more people and keep them in the state in the midst of a shortage of doctors. Other proposed actions -- Reduce graduate medical education and cancer initiative by $5 million each, eliminate nursing program at Athens campus, eliminate five undergraduate degree programs in allied health fields. Layoffs and positions eliminated would total 63. *Augusta State University: Eliminate the school's MBA program, as well as nursing, drama and continuing education programs. Layoffs and positions eliminated would total 53 percent.

The Medical College of Georgia is closer to getting a new president. The state's board of regents says it's recommending Dr. Ricardo Azziz for the spot. Azziz, the only finalist selected by the regents, is currently the vice chair of obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA, and holds leadership roles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He previously was a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Azziz is a native of Uruguay and holds a medical degree from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey. Azziz would replace Dan Rahn, who left MCG last year to head the University of Arkansas medical school. The regents chairman says the board will select the new president at a later unspecified date.

A new round of clinical trials beginning at MCG will test whether infusions of umbilical cord blood improve the quality of life for children with cerebral palsy. The study is the first of its kind and will target 40 children whose parents had cord blood stored. Researchers say the blood is rich in stem cells, which can become different kinds of cells used to treat a variety of diseases. Dr. James Carroll is the lead researcher on the FDA-approved study. He says that until now the only information on the treatment’s effects have come from parents' testimonies. "It’s natural as a parent that the parent wants to see improvement, so we really want to find out if it helps or not," Dr. Carroll says. He continues, "If it doesn’t we would have to be honest and say that it’s not a wise use of the child’s cord blood." Dr. Carroll says that one child typically produces enough cord blood for only a single treatment.

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia is suing a foundation that once supported the Medical College of Georgia. The lawsuit alleges that the foundation is still using the MCG name, a trademark violation, according to a spokesman for the Board of Regents. It also accuses the foundation of violating fiduciary responsibilities, refusing to align fundraising priorities with those of MCG and the Board of Regents, failing to provide financial information necessary for MCG's budgeting purposes and violating Georgia's Unfair Trade Practices Act. MCG terminated its affiliation with the foundation in 2008, with the chairman, MCG president Dan Rahn, and other members resigning in subsequent months.

Eleven medical students have said they want to attend the Medical College of Georgia's first class at the school's new Athens campus so far, according to MCG. The students have indicated their preference as part of MCG's early admission process. School starts in the fall of 2010. Forty-nine other early admission candidates say they'd prefer the Augusta campus. The admissions committee expects to complete the early admission process by October. MCG expects to have a total of 230 students at both campuses when school starts. The decision to expand MCG to Athens was controversial, with some politicians and community leaders in Augusta wanting all expansion to happen in their city. They feared the new Athens school would mean a loss of resources at the main campus in Augusta. Athens politicians and Governor Sonny Perdue pushed for the expansion to Athens, giving future doctors more educational opportunities in Georgia as the state tries to meet a growing demand for doctors. The Athens campus will operate through a partnership with the University of Georgia. MCG officials expect to enroll 40 students for the first class there. Eventually, the number of students per class will increase to sixty.