Discovery Institutes

Medical College of Georgia Discovery Institutes are multidisciplinary model to speed translational research

Augusta University's Medical College of Georgia aims to create more of those “magic moments” through the Discovery Institutes initiative, a program aimed at speeding up the process of turning research breakthroughs into medical treatments.

There are two institutes. The James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute addresses specific health issues facing Georgians and is line with one of the Medical College of Georgia’s thematic research priorities: Vision Science. It operates under a formal structure that encourages researchers and clinicians to collaborate on translational research. Another, the Education Discovery Institute, also uses a research-focused, multidisciplinary approach to improving medical education.

The Georgia Cancer Center, though not formally a part of the Discovery Institutes initiative, fills the role of a “Cancer Discovery Institute” because it follows the multidisciplinary, translational-focused clinical research model used by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institutes.