Welcome from the Associate & Assistant Dean
Congratulations for choosing medicine as a career and we’re thrilled you’re applying to Southwest Campus. Our distinguished clinical faculty and dedicated staff are here to make sure you succeed. Our goal is to develop physicians who serve their community as strong clinicians and leaders.
We’re headquartered in Albany and have rotation sites throughout the region including Columbus, Thomasville, Tifton, Valdosta, Cordele and many more. All our hospital partners offer excellent clinical experiences and free food. Our flagship hospital in Albany, Phoebe Putney, also free gym and access to on site luxury apartment living; all within walking distance from the MCG SW campus space.
Our campus was newly renovated and furnished in 2024 and serves as the “home base” for students and provide comfortable lounge space, private offices, for studying and wellness. I provided endless snacks and career and life advising.
We also offer ultrasound education and are the only campus where every student receives a personal hand held ultrasound device to learn bedside imaging skills throughout the year. Ultrasound is the future and you’ll be at the forefront of honing clinical skills using this transformative technology.
We look forward to welcoming you into our campus and supporting the incredible contributions you will make to the field of medicine. For students interested in getting hands on clinical experience and close mentoring on community based research.
Dr. Doug Patten
Campus Associate Dean
Medical College of Georgia, Southwest Campus
Augusta University
I currently serve as SW Campus Assistant Dean and Internal Medicine Faculty and have
experienced this amazing campus first hand. I was a MCG student (class of 2016) and
chose SW Campus as my clinical campus and still consider this one of the best personal
and professional decisions I’ve ever made.
The goal for the SW campus is to develop physicians who serve their community as strong clinicians and leaders. If you have a demonstrated interest in serving underserved populations, this option might be for you. Some examples of evidence of interest would be: research, volunteering and shadowing at health systems and organizations for the underserved and spending significant time in, and expressing an understanding about the needs of, smaller communities.
After completing your pre-clerkship curriculum on the Augusta campus, we’ll help you transition to my favorite part of medical education, clinical rotations in SW Georgia! You’ll move to the region and enjoy one-on-one education from local preceptors for all core rotations in either the Longitudinal Curriculum Track or Traditional Track. We will also provide extra academic support and research opportunities to help you do your best and match into the specialty of your choice. Our recent students have matched into ophthalmology, ENT, neurology, surgery, radiation oncology, psychiatry, internal med, family med, pediatrics....any many more.
We look forward to welcoming you into our campus and supporting the incredible contributions you will make to the less resourced regions in the state of Georgia.
Koosh Desai, MD
Assistant Dean
Medical College of Georgia, Southwest Campus
Augusta University