Dr. Michael Bailey Scholarship Fund Established, Inaugural Recipient Announced

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Bailey Scholarship
Nancy Bailey, Dr. Mike Bailey and Christopher Buchanan
Nancy Bailey, Dr. Mike Bailey and Christopher Buchanan

MACON – The Dr. Michael Bailey family, in partnership with the Community Foundation of Central Georgia and Mercer University, announced April 9 the creation of the Dr. Michael Bailey Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. This fund provides a meaningful scholarship to a fourth-year medical school student attending Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) on the Macon campus.

“The Dr. Michael Bailey Scholarship for students committed to internal medicine will provide important financial support to Mercer University medical students. Decreasing debt is critical in the long-term success of students, and recognizing one of our core specialties, internal medicine, is foundational in reestablishing quality, safe primary care in rural communities,” said Dr. Jean R. Sumner, dean of the School of Medicine. “One of our foremost goals at Mercer is to develop community-responsive healthcare leaders such as Dr. Bailey.”

Dr. Bailey came to Macon in 1975 as a pioneer in the field of invasive cardiology. He was the first invasive cardiologist in Macon and Middle Georgia, and the only American Board of Cardiology Certified cardiologist for a number of years. He chose to practice in Macon because it offered him the opportunity to lead the development and opening of the area’s first cardiac catheterization lab. In this lab, he performed the first cardiac catheterization in Central Georgia in 1976.

When Dr. Bailey began his practice, cardiac catheterization was a cutting-edge procedure that had yet to gain widespread acceptance except in academic medical centers. Dr. Bailey was always attuned to medical technology, its advancement and how he could use it to improve the quality of care he gave to his patients. In awarding this scholarship, Dr. Bailey would like to inspire a similar pioneering spirit in the advancement of innovative healthcare methodology to future physicians.

Scholarship applicants must be rising fourth-year medical school students from the state of Georgia who are pursuing an M.D. degree at MUSM on the Macon campus and who plan to complete an internal medicine residency. The ideal recipient of the Dr. Michael Bailey Scholarship is a student who is hardworking, compassionate and deserving and plans to pursue a career in internal medicine or one of its subspecialties.

The inaugural recipient of the Dr. Michael Bailey scholarship is Christopher Buchanan. Buchanan is a graduate of Columbus High School and the University of Georgia. He is entering his fourth year of medical school at Mercer and plans to pursue an internal medicine residency.

He chose to attend Mercer’s medical school because of the University’s unique approach to education, which requires self-motivation and a strong sense of self-efficacy. He appreciates how Mercer focuses on applicability through problem-based learning and fostering skills for lifelong learning. He summarized his interest in internal medicine by saying, “Everything I want to be as a physician is embodied in the work of internal medicine. There is variety for the part of me that wants to know everything, puzzling cases for the part of me that appreciates challenges, an endless amount of information for the part of me that loves learning, and patients in need for the part of me that desires to connect with people and provide compassionate care to anyone who needs it.”

About the Community Foundation of Central Georgia

The Community Foundation of Central Georgia was founded in 1993 by a group of citizens interested in encouraging philanthropy and strengthening communities. Since then, the foundation has awarded more than $78 million in grants. As a local center for philanthropy, the foundation works with individuals, families, corporations, private foundations and nonprofit organizations to carry out their charitable objectives and address emerging community issues. Our donors make it possible for the foundation to achieve its mission of enhancing the quality of life for the people of Central Georgia. For more information about this scholarship or the Community Foundation of Central Georgia, please visit www.cfcga.org.

About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah and Columbus)

Mercer University’s School of Medicine was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, more than 60 percent of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80 percent are practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-based medical education program that provides early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an awareness of the place of the basic medical sciences in medical practice. The School opened a full four-year campus in Savannah in 2008 at Memorial University Medical Center. In 2012, the School began offering clinical education for third- and fourth-year medical students in Columbus. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School’s primary teaching hospitals: Medical Center, Navicent Health in Macon; Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah; and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The School also offers master’s degrees in family therapy, preclinical sciences and biomedical sciences.