MACON, Ga. – Mercer University's Dr. Warren Hutchings, director of student health and assistant professor in family medicine, was named the 2013 Practitioner of the Year by the National Medical Association. The award acknowledges exemplary leadership, outstanding work as a physician, dedication to educating physicians and health care providers and dedication to inspiring minorities.
“I am very honored to receive the 2013 Practitioner of the Year Award from the National Medical Association,” Dr. Hutchings said. “By receiving this prestigious national award, I hope to encourage other physicians to improve health care in their communities through organized medicine. This award also demonstrates the commitment Mercer University has to family medicine and primary care by encouraging community involvement by its faculty.”
Dr. Hutchings was nominated by Dr. Millard Collier Jr., president of the Georgia State Medical Association (GSMA). Dr. Hutchings served as president of GSMA from 2010-2012 and currently serves as the board chair. He is CEO and founder of the Middle Georgia Medical Society (MGMS) and served as president from 1997-2000. He has been a practicing family physician in Macon since 1993 and joined Mercer's Family Medicine Department in 2006 as an assistant professor. Dr. Hutchings has received numerous awards that include the Distinguished Alumnus Award, Morehouse School of Medicine in 1999; National Medical Association Region III Outstanding Service Award in 2005; GSMA Presidential Commendations in 1996, 2001, 2006, 2009 and President's Award in 2012; the Dr. George A. Johnston Sr. Community Service Award in 2004 and 2008; plus the MGMS Outstanding Leadership Award in 1996 and 2000. He has also performed research as an investigator for “The Asthma Control Test and Asthma Control in African-Americans in Rural, Urban, and Suburban Georgia” in 2005-2006.
Dr. Hutchings will accept the Practitioner of the Year Award at the National Medical Association's 112th annual Convention and Scientific Assembly on July 27 in Toronto, Canada. The convention will bring together some of the nation's leading medical scholars, scientists, practitioners and medical administrators.
The National Medical Association was founded in 1895 and is the nation's oldest and largest professional organization of African-American physicians promoting the interests of more than 50,000 physicians.
About Mercer University
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education. The University enrolls more than 8,300 students in 12 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing, health professions, and continuing and professional studies – on campuses in Macon, Atlanta and Savannah – and four regional academic centers across the state. The Mercer Health Sciences Center, launched July 1, 2012, includes the University's medical, nursing, health sciences and pharmacy schools. Mercer is affiliated with four teaching hospitals – Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, and The Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus. The University also has educational partnerships with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. It operates an academic press and a performing arts center in Macon and an engineering research center in Warner Robins. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia to field an NCAA Division I athletic program. www.mercer.edu
