HealthSciencesUpdate Hogan Appointed McCann Endowed Professor
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atalie M. Hogan, M.D., FAAP, has accepted a three-year appointment as the Joy McCann Endowed Professor in the Mercer University School of Medicine. The Joy McCann Professorship for Women in Medicine was established by the Joy McCann Foundation Dr. Natalie Hogan to encourage, inspire and reward women physicians in their academic careers. Through an endowment, the professorship provides enhancement support for a current woman faculty member in a school of medicine who is an outstanding mentor and leader in teaching, research, patient care and/or community service. Anna N. Walker, M.D., was Mercer’s first professorship recipient. The criteria for choosing a worthy woman physician included the following: • Mentoring and leadership in the profession and the faculty • Effective adviser to medical students and residents • Leadership roles at local, state and national levels • Commitment to success of women students, residents and faculty • A vision for service across all campuses of the school Dr. Hogan earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia and the Doctor of Medicine degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta in 1993. She received post-graduate medical training in pediatrics at the Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, S.C., and later completed a fellowship in ambulatory pediatrics at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah. Dr. Hogan has served the Mercer School of Medicine since 1997. She has been the pediatric clerkship director since 2003 and also has served as director of clinical skills
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on the Savannah campus since 2007. She has been recognized numerous times as an Outstanding Clinical Faculty in Pediatrics by both students and residents.
Phil Tobin Appointed New Chair of Physician Assistant Program
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r. Philip Tobin, a 17-year physician assistant and a former assistant professor at Harding University, has been named chair and program director of Mercer’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Prior to this position, Dr. Tobin Dr. Phil Tobin was assistant professor and assistant clinical director of the Physician Assistant program at Harding, where he chaired the institutional review board charged with ensuring the university’s research compliance involving human subjects. Dr. Tobin was also on the medical staffs at the Arkansas Department of Corrections and Whitaker Medical locums in Texas. A retired United States Air Force veteran who served during the first and second Iraq wars, Dr. Tobin earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in physician assistant studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center with emphasis in family medicine. He earned his Doctor of Health Science degree from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “I’m extremely excited about this opportunity,” said Dr. Tobin, who began his PA directorship at Mercer on April 2. “I’m coming into a program that is up and running and is really a star in terms of PA education. In the short few years this program has been in existence, we’ve had advances and milestones that a lot of other programs have not had. So I’m coming into a well-equipped program as a director, and with that I’m both humbled and excited about the future of this program.”
Governor Appoints Melton Strozier to State Board of Examiners
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r. Melton Strozier, chair of the Mercer School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, last May was appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to serve as a member of the Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. Serving the best interests and Dr. Melton Strozier safety of the public, the six members of this board are entrusted with overseeing the licensure of professional psychologists in the state, as well as addressing licensing laws, and, when necessary, managing allegations of misconduct performed by current psychologists. In order to serve as a board member, one needs to be a mature licensed psychologist who holds many credentials and certifications. Dr. Strozier, in his long history as a health professional and professor, is wellmatched as a governing member of this state board. A native of Macon and 1974 graduate of Mercer, Dr. Strozier has served as a faculty member for 24 years and as chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences since August 2005. He has held memberships in six professional societies and is a founding member of the Middle Georgia Psychological Association. Dr. Strozier received a certificate of recognition from the American Psychological Association Division of Family Psychology (Division 43) for outstanding service on a Presidential Task Force on Special Issues Impacting the Family, and served as chair of the Subcommittee on the Impact on Families of Chronic Illness and Disability in 1995. “It is an honor to serve on the Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, and I am grateful that the governor appointed me to this position. It is a significant change is my career from advocating for psychology to advocating for the public.”