Mercer plans to move medical school to new facility in downtown Macon

Mercer University leaders want to move its medical school off campus to a new facility in downtown Macon.

Mercer President Bill Underwood announced the planned move during his presentation at the Rotary Club of Macon Monday afternoon. He said Mercer’s medical school, which was built in 1982 for 24 students, is too small and outdated for a program that will soon include more than 720 students.

“Our board of trustees… made what I think was a good decision that instead of rebuilding on our campus over on the west side of downtown, we would put the new medical school right downtown,” Underwood said. “And in doing it, we would put it in a location where there would be room for positive collateral development around it.”

Underwood said the project received a $10 million grant from the Peyton Anderson Foundation — the largest in the nonprofit’s history — as well as $25 million from the state. The Knight Foundation announced a $5 million grant for the project back in September 2023.

He noted the project would be the largest investment in Mercer’s — and perhaps downtown Macon’s — history. While Underwood did not disclose the project’s location, he said one of the main goals of the downtown relocation is to “catalyze” growth, with space surrounding the medical school available for development.

“I think this will supercharge the already great things that we see going on in Macon,” he said.

Underwood said the Urban Development Authority is key to the project, and UDA executive director Alex Morrison told Rotary the location will be announced “pretty soon.”

Mercer has invested heavily in its medical program over the past decade, with new facilities in Savannah (built in 2016) and Columbus (2022). 

Additionally, Underwood said that Mercer plans to expand its rural medical clinic program, which has six locations right now. He said the university is looking at adding 15-20 new clinics in rural communities across the state.