South Georgia Medical Center affiliated Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr. Randal Brown, was asked to serve on the advisory board of the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center at Mercer University School of Medicine. The Center’s goal is to work closely with Mercer University School of Medicine to review, evaluate, and recommend programs and projects to assist in meeting the vision of a healthy Georgia.
 
In 2018, the state of Georgia allocated grant funding to establish a Rural Health Innovation Center. The purpose of the Center is simple yet ambitious: Confront, head-on, the challenges to health, and wellbeing that face the citizens of rural Georgia.
 
“Because of his passion and commitment to the people of rural Georgia, Dr. Randy Brown was one of the first to be recommended as a member of our advisory board,” said Debra Stokes, executive director of the Center. “We are thrilled to have him and look forward to his insights.”
 
Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 120 are considered rural. Sixty-three counties lack a pediatrician, 75 counties have no OB-GYN, 84 counties have no psychiatrist, and eight have no physician at all. Overall, rural Georgians encounter higher rates of chronic disease, less access to healthcare, and shorter life expectancies when compared with their urban counterparts.
 
“I am honored to be selected to serve with this prestigious group of medical professionals,” Dr. Brown stated. “Hopefully, the groundwork we lay today will improve healthcare access in the future for all rural Georgians.”
 
Dr. Brown is an Assistant Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mercer. He received his medical degree from Mercer University School of Medicine in 1986 and completed his general surgery training at the Medical Center of Central Georgia.  He then completed training in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery at the Carolina Heart Institute at Carolina’s Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Brown has received additional training in advanced cardiac and advanced trauma life support, pediatric surgery, oncologic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, pacemaker implantation, thoracic surgery, endovascular surgery, and endograft procedures.
 
He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, the International Society of Endovascular Specialists and the Medical Association of Georgia. In 2014, Dr. Brown affiliated with the SGMC CardioVascular Institute, where he currently serves as a cardiothoracic surgeon.