UGA Health Sciences Campus Moves Towards Official Opening

The 's Health Sciences Campus on Prince Avenue will soon open for its first year, expanding the state's efforts to increase the number of primary care physicians in Georgia. 

The campus will house students from the College of Public Health and from the medical partnership between UGA and Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta. It covers land which supported the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School. The Navy School was closed in 2005 and purchased by UGA in 2007.

UGA President Michael Adams and other officials said the campus and medical program were developed to address a shortage of physicians and good medical care in Georgia. 

"We rank in the 40s, the bottom quintile, in virtually every category of public health statistic," Adams said. "You name it, we lead the league. We are defining a responsibility here to make life better and to improve the health of the people in this state. We could not, in my opinion, stand by as access to well-trained physicians dwindled."

UGA hopes to train medical students who will later decide to practice within the state, particularly in rural areas where quality of medical care has declined. 

Kathy Pharr, director of the Health Sciences Campus administration, said that all College of Public Health departments would be moving to the new campus, with the exception of Environment Health Sciences.

"That's only because this campus doesn't have a wet bar," she said. "A wet bar is a lab that's outfitted with masks and tools to deal with chemicals and that sort of thing. It may happen eventually, but at the moment, their resources are still on campus."

Although those departments will be moving, however, UGA officials say they are unsure what will be put in the empty spaces. Provost Jere Morehead said the College of Public Health is not located in a central location, and so the emptied spaces will be scattered.

"The dean's office is in the Coverdell Center, so that gives the illusion of a centralized location," Morehead said. "Some of our engineering initiatives are going to be in some of those empty spaces, most likely. We might have a research grant that requires more space. There is always a list of needs, but the president makes the final decision."

Similarly, UGA officials are not releasing information on what might replace the Interim Medical Partnership Building, which will move its program to the new campus. Adams said during talks that there are plans for the building, but declined to specify.

"I know what's going in there, but I'm not ready to announce it," Adams said. "There are too many people who want the space."

Students attending medical or public health courses will be able to travel between the medical campus and UGA's main campus via a bus which will travel to and fro every 20 minutes.

Students who wish to live in student housing may also register for space in one of 48 UGA-owned townhomes close to the the campus. These townhomes were owned by the Navy School and were acquired when the main campus was transferred. 

Adams said he hopes the programs will continue to expand and will benefit Georgia. 

"We are committed to making sure that this health sciences campus keeps as its primary mission the improvement of health and services to the citizens of Georgia," Adams said.