David Hess, MD

Dean

  • Augusta GA UNITED STATES

Dr. David C. Hess, a stroke specialist, educator, and entrepreneur, is dean of the Medical College of Georgia.

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Modernizing rural health – what it could mean for America

For Americans living outside of cities and in rural and sometimes remote areas of the country, the concept of readily accessible health care just isn’t a reality.However, the idea of expanding broadband internet into rural communities to improve access is one that shares support from all sides of the political spectrum. Just last week, an expert from Augusta University was called up to speak before lawmakers in Congress on the need for this technology and who it could best serve."Broadband is the gateway to rural schools, businesses and health care providers," said Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota. Lawmakers raised concerns about the dwindling number of hospitals in rural areas and the need to be competitive when recruiting corporations to do business."Just the ability in rural America for a physician to pull up an X-ray at their home instead of having to drive to the hospital to look at a patient to know if that is something that’s an emergency," said Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican from Georgia. "One of the biggest needs is tele-psychiatry and tele-mental health," said Dr. David Hess of the Medical College of Georgia. Spectrum News 1 July 11It’s an interesting topic and one that is gaining a lot of attention.How many rural Americans are without access to a doctor or hospital in the country?How much money could be saved by expanding online health care?Online is a viable solution, but are there drawbacks or concerns for patients?And how could expanding broadband and digital health care support issues like mental and maternal health across rural America?If you are a reporter covering this topic – that’s where our experts can help.Dr. David Hess is dean of the Medical College of Georgia and executive vice president for Medical Affairs and Integration at Augusta University. He also helped develop the REACH telestroke network in rural Georgia that now includes about 30 hospitals. Dr. Hess is available to speak with media regarding this topic – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.

David Hess, MD

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Biography

Hess, a stroke specialist, honored educator, and biotech entrepreneur, is dean of the Medical College of Georgia and executive vice president for Medical Affairs and Integration at Augusta University.

Dr. Hess helped develop the REACH telestroke network in rural Georgia that now numbers 30 hospitals. REACH enables timely stroke diagnosis and treatment by using the internet to eliminate distance between patients and stroke specialists. He is also Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of REACH Health Inc., a telestroke company that spun out of MCG and now also provides similar services for a variety of acute medical problems to patients, physicians and hospitals worldwide.

A prolific physician-scientist whose focus is improving stroke treatment and recovery, Hess has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications and has been involved in basic, pre-clinical and clinical stroke research. He served as the clinical principal investigator for the MASTERS clinical trial, a study of bone-marrow derived stem cells known as “Multistem” in acute stroke.

He is a professor and past Presidential Distinguished Chair in the MCG Department of Neurology.

Areas of Expertise

Academic Medicine
Stroke
Neuroscience
Telemedicine
Neurology
Molecular Medicine
Stem Cell Research

Accomplishments

America's Top Doctors

Hess has been named to the list of America's Top Doctors in neurology for more than 15 consecutive years.
Compiled by Castle Connolly Ltd., this prestigious list represents the top 1 percent of physicians in the nation.

Exemplary Medical Student Teaching Award

Medical College of Georgia - 2014

Distinguished Research Award

Augusta University Research Institute - 2012

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Affiliations

  • REACH Health Inc.: Chairman of Board of Directors
  • American Board of Internal Medicine - Certified - 1986
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology - Certified - 1990

Media Appearances

MCG state of the college address talks new Columbia County Hospital and more

WJBF  tv

2024-02-16

This year’s address for the Medical College of Georgia focuses on a lot of new improvements for students and communities impacted by the services the school provides.

“We know the traditional experience of physician and patient, but this is– they’re really training us for the future which is great,” first year medical student at MCG Maanasa Javangula said.

Some of those improvements are actually expansions like a new hospital coming to Columbia County in the near future.

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MCG shares plans to address physician shortage in state of college address

wfx  tv

2024-02-16

On Friday, Dean Hess gave his annual State of the Medical College of Georgia address.

Dean Hess calls it a historic year for Medical College of Georgia with the new partnership with Wellstar. “That financially stabilizes our health system, allows us to put a regional campus in Marietta, at Kennestone Hospital," he says. "And then, actually expands our digital health offerings. We do a lot of telemedicine and telehealth around the state.”

Meanwhile, MCG is also working on a new partnership in Savannah. The four year program is set to start in July of this year. “We’re actually doing some renovations to allow our class of 40 students to go there," he says. "That’ll bring our first year class size to over 300, making us one of the six largest medical school’s in the country.”

One MCG, one mission and many campuses. Dean Hess says campuses are now in all 4 corners of the state: Athens, Atlanta, Albany, Brunswick, Rome, Dalton and Savannah.

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MCG: Noble, vital, varied missions to your health

The Augusta Chronicle  print

2018-04-28

Augusta is home to one of the crown jewels of medicine -- the Medical College of Georgia, the state’s only public medical school. Founded in 1828 as the nation’s 13th oldest medical school, MCG has the 9th largest freshman medical school class in the country. We have a true statewide mission and presence, with a second four-year campus in Athens in partnership with the University of Georgia as well as regional clinical campuses based in Rome, Albany, Savannah and Brunswick where third- and fourth-year medical students hone their clinical knowledge and skill working alongside physicians in clinics and hospitals across our state.

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Articles

Telemedicine Quality and Outcomes in Stroke: A Scientific Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

Stroke

2017

Telestroke is one of the most frequently used and rapidly expanding applications of telemedicine, delivering much-needed stroke expertise to hospitals and patients. This document reviews the current status of telestroke and suggests measures for ongoing quality and outcome monitoring to improve performance and to enhance delivery of care...

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Humoral Mediators of Remote Ischemic Conditioning: Important Role of eNOS/NO/Nitrite

Acta Neurochirurgica Supplement

2016

Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is a powerful cardioprotectant and neuroprotectant. Nitrite is a key circulating mediator of RIC and may be a mediator of increased CBF and also mediate cytoprotection through its effects on nitrosylation of mitochondrial proteins such as complex I.

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Remote ischaemic conditioning-a new paradigm of self-protection in the brain

Nature Reviews Neurology

2015

Remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) triggers endogenous protective pathways in distant organs such as the kidney, heart and brain, and represents an exciting new paradigm in neuroprotection. In this Review, we consider the principles and mechanisms of RIC, evidence from preclinical models and clinical trials that RIC is beneficial in neurological disease, and how the procedure might be used in the future in disorders such as vascular cognitive impairment and traumatic brain injury...

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