Interviewee: Dr. Ian Mercier, male, Caucasian, COO—Chief Operating Officer (soon to become CEO-Chief Executive Officer) of the MCG (Medical College of Georgia) Foundation, Augusta, Georgia
Interviewer: Dr. Molly Quinn, Augusta University
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Dr. Quinn: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for this. Um so, if you don’t mind beginning just with letting us know: your name, your age if you’re not opposed to that (laughter). Um and anything about yourself in terms of the context of the interview. (0:30 seconds)
Ian Mercier: Sure, I’m Ian Mercier and age 43 um currently the Chief Operating Office of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation: had been with the foundation for about 16 years. Well, started as an employee at the Medical College of Georgia back in 1999. Um, I grew up in Augusta primarily although did live in Savannah for a few years when I was a kid. Went to elementary school in Clearwater, which is a part of the C.S.R.A. So, we lived in South Carolina when I was a little younger and then, of course, went to high school at North Augusta High School and graduated there in 1990. And became a student of Clemson University with aspirations to be an architect - changed my mind and decided architects didn’t make enough money and graduated went on to, to U.S.C. Aiken. I’ve also gone to school – so out, outside Augusta I did a hybrid program going over at Villanova University; it was a master’s program in administration and which is just a blend of traditional on campus and district education. Or as they call it now: online. And I'm in a doctoral program at Northeastern University, which is a Charlotte kind based out of Boston, but they have a campus at Charlotte. So, I spent a lot of time at Charlotte. (2:19)
Dr. Quinn: And what are you studying for a doctorate? (2:21)
Ian Mercier: So, it’s stared as a higher education administration focus. But I since decided I didn’t quite want to be pigeonholed in higher education just in case. You never know, so I switched over to the organizational leadership program. So that’s what I currently am doing. I have a wife, two kids, and two young children, and this is gray hair that’s not blonde (laughter). So, it’s a little bit about myself. (2:51)
Dr. Quinn: Thank you. Well um, so you will be our – about to be the C.E.O. of – and they still call it the Medical School of Georgia Foundation despite all the name changes. (3:01)
Ian Mercier: Yes, yes. So, that would take its own video: the name change and that history. (3:07)
Dr. Quinn: But it’s staying, it’s staying. (3:10)
Ian Mercier: It’s staying, it will, and I think there’s a good reason for that, of course, the Medical College of Georgia is the name given to the School of Medicine. Although, it is now part of Augusta University, comprehensive university. Most of our assets—we have about 230 million dollars in assets that we manage and most of those are for what was the Medical College of Georgia which then also included the Dental School, Nursing, Mental Health, Allied Health and there’s a graduate component. Um so, of those assets the majority of those are marked for the Medical College of Georgia. So um, yes there is an Augusta University foundation which is sort of tied to the legacy of the Augusta State foundation, so we have that. Actually, we have three foundations. (4:03)
Dr. Quinn: Are you affiliated with them or not? (4:04)
Ian Mercier: We’re not affiliated. Well, we’re both affiliates of the university as a whole. But um, but, not, you know connected legally of Augusta University Foundation so we do still have the legacy foundations. (4:21)
Dr. Quinn: So um, what do you think your education contributions have been to this area? And/or the work of the foundation? (4:31)
Ian Mercier: Sure. So, in you know from my stand point, educational contributions have become more in my direction, at least from a personal standpoint. On the foundation side, I would say that um and quite frankly the contributions to education are far more significant now. I think because of the gift that we received a few years ago from a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia, Dr. Harold Harrison and that was – and you may have heard about this, but it was a 66 million-dollar donation to support endowment, and the majority of that goes to student scholarships. So, our donation allocated about 54 million dollars to create an endowed scholarship program. Now, of course, we were just talking about the medical students here but Medical College of Georgia is the, I think, the ninth largest in terms of the student body in the country. So we have uh 230 students per year, so this scholarship is the first full tuition scholarship ever offered at Medical College of Georgia. And um right now, we should have close to 50 scholars by next year. (6:02)
Dr. Quinn: So, when did it start? (6:03)
Ian Mercier: So, actually stated about three years ago. (6:07)
Dr. Quinn: Okay, and did it have 50 scholars? Or, did it start with 50 and now it’s growing? (6:10)
Ian Mercier: Started with six, so we started with six and not to go into too much detail about managing endowment and taking a lot of risks. We decided to phase it in as we started with six and we added 12, and we added another 12, and the third set of 12 -- (6:30)
Dr. Quinn: So coming up this year, you can fully fund 50 medical students? (6:35)
Ian Mercier: Coming up next year, we’ll have 48 yeah will be funded, that’s right. And um, of course, it’s still relatively small in term of the full cadre of medical students; we have 230 per class. So we have around 900 that are here all at one time. So, it’s a start; it’s a start. I think the goal was really to try to attract those students who are – I mean there’s no secret; we try to draw kids in from Georgia principally, but we can bring kids from out of state as well. But we really want to grow the doctor base in Georgia. We think that we can pull kids in from the state of Georgia, train them here, they’re likely to come back and be physicians in Georgia which is another problem. We have a team shortage of doctors in the state. It’s a national issue but -- (7:35)
Dr. Quinn: It is a national issue? (7:36)
Ian Mercier: It is. It is. And I don’t have the numbers in front of me. But we’re in the tens of thousands of doctors in terms of shortage just within the next several years (7:37)
Dr. Quinn: Now, is that mostly in the rural areas or just all over Georgia? (7:51)
Ian Mercier: Rural areas are the biggest challenge. Quite frankly, because one - there’s often not a base hospital. Two: you know, the jobs are probably not seen as lucrative as in the big city. So, there is a challenge in getting students to go back to those rural parts of Georgia, and that’s where most of – you know we have a large populous near the metro areas of Atlanta, and Macon, and Augusta. We have a lot of people living in the sort of wide-open spaces, so there is a tremendous shortage of doctors in rural Georgia. So part of this, I think is a twofold number. One: those kids who are the brightest, the most talented, they’re being recruited by Vanderbilt, by Duke, by U.N.C.—some of them by Yale, Harvard and that’s not to say those are not fantastic schools, but we really want them here and to have a full scholarship is a great way to get those students to coming to the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta University. And we believe that if they’re trained here, the numbers show that if they’re trained here, you know, they may do the residency here—they may do the residency somewhere else—but you create some sense of loyalty with the students when you give them the scholarship. And the other part of, the other part of the scholar’s programs we’re talking about is: we’re trying to create mentorship opportunities. Um and so, the other half of this: not to talk too much about this specifically. But the other half of this gift is that we have established ten new university distinguished chairs and what we used those for is to recruit the best faculty to the institution. And part of their responsibility, if they’rea Harrison Chair, is they have to mentor students or in this case, mentor medical students. So, you’re pairing up the high-potential students with really your ‘superstar’ faculty, and you’re creating something that very, very special. And again, that also adds to the sense of loyalty that these students have when they leave the institution. If they if they’re experience here was significant, I mean there’s no doubt that data will tell you, research will tell you, that that affinity is what brings them back either to the state of Georgia, to our community, or maybe they give back in some other way. There’s a beena benefit often times through philanthropic which is kind of what we do as well raising and accepting philanthropy gifts is our business. So, all those things are of course connected, but there’s no doubt that the Medical College of Georgia and the school and now Augusta University by virtue of the consolidation; we have a rich tradition in teaching and education. And what you’ll find is that outside of Augusta, there is a high quality associated with the replica of the Medical College of Georgia and its education. Yes, it’s in Georgia; it’s not you know it’s not some of these other powerhouse, private institutions that I talked to you about. But it is a state, that means that it’s affordable and these kids aren’t coming out with a huge financial burden. Uh, especially if they have a scholarship, that really changes their world all together. But that’s - there no doubt that there’s a teaching excellence here – M.C.G., so you add that on top of not having the financial burden, training them here in Georgia and trying to get them to come back to Georgia. I think it’s a great opportunity for all of us. We’re very excited that the Harrison family was willing to give us -- (12:20)
Dr. Quin: Now, that’s been how long in existence? (12:21)
Ian Mercier: It just – this was just the third year. (12:24)
Dr. Quinn: And that’s the third year that the mentoring and the -- (12:27)
Ian Mercier: Right. It’s all sort of built from the same, from the same program. (12:31)
Dr. Quinn: And so, will you be actively studying it to see the impact on the -- (12:34)
Ian Mercier: We are. We meet - Dr. Osborne who’s our retiring C.E.O. He’s still here for about another month; we meet with all the students, and so part of this process is to: number one - we encourage them to um do some type of a summer research program, and the Medical College has a great scholars program were they link up with a faculty member and do some type of research. It’s not required, but most of them participate and it’s really is part of the education building process. They’re going to get their clinical skills through the curriculum but, you know, the best doctors I think are the ones that understand the research. So, we encourage them to both summer research programwhich they do. So when we interview students we talk to them about their research. They’ve all be connected with great faculty, but they also have the expectation of doing leadership activities, and they present us their latest resume. They’re all volunteering at homeless clinics, you know. They’re leading groups of other medical students so they’re expected to have some type of a leadership role on top of everything else they’re doing which is a real challenge. These are pretty special kids, and they’re excited about it. So, I think the feedback has been very positive. (14:04)
Dr. Quinn: And, they’re in all areas of medicine? But not necessarily dentistry or the other allied health; it’s physicians? (14:11)
Ian Mercier: Yes. This, this, this one here I think is specific to Medicine. One thing that I haven’t mentioned is tied to the Harrison family: is that uh they also made lead gift to build the Harrison Commons Room, which is where nurses, dentists, and medical physicians, or medical students. They all train together and, you have, this sort of a translational, you know, sort of biomedical. Translation Medicine situation where nurses and physicians who work together: nurses and dentists work together. And in some cases, depending on whether it’ an oral surgeon, plastic surgeon, often times dentists and physicians work together. You’ve created a space where they can all be trained uh both uniquely in their own rights. But they can be trained together, so that’s part of this. (15:31)
Dr. Quinn: And do you know anything about the Harrison family? Or, this man? Like I’m wondering. I just want to know what compelled him to do this. (15:22)
Ian Mercier: Yeah, this is—it’s a great story. You know, Dr. Osborne knew him very well personally. I can tell you what I know. I knew Harold; he actually passed away about 2013. Um but, the phrase that’s most closely associated with Dr. Harrison is “M.C.G. took a country boy and made a doctor out of him.” And he grew up on a farm in Bartow, Georgia, which is not too far from here but kind of out in the sticks. Um, was a—what I would describe as a prodigy, a very intelligent, went to the University of Georgia--I think at 17—was there a year, started the medical college as an 18-year-old, graduated and became a vascular surgeon and was a pioneering vascular surgeon. At that, he went up to Atlanta and was one of the first to use veins from the leg to do heart bypass. So, he has quite the story-career. But what interesting about Dr. Harrison was that he was always on his farm. So, he was kind of sort of the “man of the earth” so to speak. So he would work in Atlanta as a vascular surgeon during the week, come home on the weekend and he had a cattle farm. So he worked on a cattle farm on the weekends; that was sort of his reprieves. Um but, you know, most people they can’t put cattle farming and vascular surgery – (17:08)
Dr. Quinn: Together, right? (17:09)
Ian Mercier: They’re a little different. But how did the make his fortune? And he was just a very astutebusiness person, and while many people were investing in annuities back in the 70s, he was buying the land near Atlanta. So, a large part of his estate was from the land acquisition, so when he passed away his estate was a significant value. Um he was very involved in the Alumni Association, very much encouraged the support of scholarships. He was always a donor even before he passed away; he gave tremendously to the Department of Surgery. I can mention his gift to the Harrison Commons Building; it was a 10 million-dollar gift. Um, his wife, Sue, they met in Bartow, and she’s a wonderful lady, and still very active, very much a part of what’s happening here. Um, but that’s just kind of the very brief look at his career. I mean [he was] very close to The Alumni Association of the Medical College and was always in support of students. His idea was: if you’re going to get money, it needs to support the people, and you can build buildings, but that personal connection was what was most important to him and that what endowment really was; it’s something that’s perpetual. It’s going to be there forever so while we have, you know, we have 50 students now, that could grow into 60, 70 and on and on, and that will last forever. It didn’t like suddenly; this program is going to stop. It will go on forever which is quite a legacy. So we’re just very proud to know him and know Sue and be a part of this. (19:11)
Dr. Quinn: Now, how long has this foundation been in existence? (19:14)
Ian Mercier: Yeah, so we celebrated um a couple of years ago. We celebrated 60 years so we founded in ’54, and it was the president of the university, Edgar Pond, and a handful of M.C.G. alumni who got together in a Alumni Association meeting, and they said, “you know, we, we need to start a philanthropic foundation. We need to be ale to take private money and grow it and encourage philanthropy,” which is a great thing because as the case as in many states, state funding for, for institutions has just taken a dive. (19:58)
Dr. Quinn: And continuing to. (19:59)
Ian Mercier: And it continues to. And so, private gifts are very important. Any President will tell you that; so they knew that back in the ‘50s. So they pulled together a collection of about 400 dollars at the time of medical college foundation and so now it’s, you know -- (20:22)
Dr. Quinn: And so, was it always was its purpose to serve M.C.G. in some way through its philanthropy, or? (20:29
Ian Mercier: Right. Yeah and so, uh it was always there to support the the, educational and clinical missions of the Medical College of Georgia. Um and, as the school grew, it started off as just a medical school; it went through number of iterations. It was connected the University of Georgia, then it was stand-alone, and then after a number of years, they added the Nursing School, then they added the Dental School and then Allied Health and Graduate School were all that later on. So, as those became a part of almost a more comprehensive Medical College of Georgia, the assets of the foundation sort of matched that. So while most of what we have is for the—what is now just the medical school. We do have scholarships for nurses, and scholarships for dental students. And so, in fact, the foundation in 2009 established a merit scholarship for dental students and medical students as well. So there’s a merit scholarship created by the foundation. So there’s a lot of support for education here at the M.C.G. foundation. (21:49)