Message from the Chairman

We have come a long way from 1895 when we were a 20-bed facility known as the Macon Hospital. In 1994, we became the Medical Center of Central Georgia (600+ beds), and in 2014, Navicent Health which included Floyd, Peach, and Baldwin facilities. In 2019, we joined Atrium Health which was composed of 36 hospitals in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 2022, Atrium Health and Advocate Auroa Health combined forming the 3rd largest non-profit health system in the United States and is composed of 69 hospitals in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Alabama. Wake Forest University joined the system as our academic engine with all research activities flowing through one IRB at Wake Forest.

As we continue to grow as a large healthcare organization, we are organizing our infrastructure to maximize opportunities in both the clinical and research arenas which will benefit our patients. One example of this is the Southeast Trauma System Collaboration Network. Although in its infancy, this collaboration has focused on strengthening relationships among member institutions and has identified challenges across the trauma system. The next step will be to develop a joint research agenda that will involve all trauma centers in the system.

Our Atrium Health Navicent Surgery Department has also had another strong year and continues to grow. We continue to add faculty that support our mission for providing high quality healthcare to our community and education for our residents and medical students. Dr. Lindsey Bridges, fellowship trained colorectal surgeon, joined our colorectal team adding complex robotic surgery expertise. Dr. Salah Abdel Jalil has joined our team as a fellowship trained hepatobiliary surgeon and has already doubled the number of complex hepatobiliary and pancreatic cases performed over the last year. Dr. Loreski Collado was recruited as an endocrine fellowship trained surgeon to champion and develop endocrine surgery for the department. Dr. Magendran Danapal was recruited and has joined our team as the Chief of Vascular Surgery. He has recruited three new faculty members as our vascular surgery service line continues to expand. Finally, three acute care surgery surgeons have been hired in the past 3 years providing support for our newly expanded acute care surgery American Association for the Surgery of Trauma fellowship. These include Drs. William Wallace, Kristin Harmon, and Roslyn Alexander.

The Peyton Anderson Cancer Center has also seen tremendous growth over the last year. Dr. Paul Dale is the Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Lilenbaum joined the team as the Service Line Director in 2025. He is a medical oncologist with an extensive background in treating lung cancer and has been nationally recognized for his research efforts in the field of oncology. This will add additional clinical support for our patients well as exposure to first line clinical trials for complex cancer care.

Our Level I American College of Surgeons (ACS) verified trauma center continues to be extremely busy treating approximately 5,000 trauma patients per year. This trauma center not only serves the Macon area but is a safety net hospital for the entire region receiving transfer patients from 75 of the 159 counties in Georgia. In April of this year, the trauma center underwent its fourth ACS site visit and was approved with no deficiencies. Many thanks to all the teammates, service lines, and departments that made this tremendous success possible.

As you can see, the department continues to grow with addition of talented faculty and residents. We are well positioned for another great academic year. I look forward to working alongside these exceptional teammates in the coming year.