| March 26, 2001 |
Contact: Lance
Wallace |
Ann Connor Jobe,
M.D., M.S.N., was appointed today dean of Mercer's School of Medicine by Mercer
University President R. Kirby Godsey. The appointment comes after a year-long
national search that started when W. Douglas Skelton, M.D., dean of the School
of Medicine for the past 15 years and senior vice president for University Research
and Health Affairs, announced plans to relinquish his duties as dean at the
end of the 2000-2001 academic year. Jobe currently serves as interim vice chancellor
for Health Sciences at East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.
"Mercer University is fortunate to have a leader of Dr. Ann Jobe's caliber of academic experience and unwavering commitment to primary and rural health care to lead the School of Medicine in the coming years," President Godsey said. "Dr. Doug Skelton has served the School of Medicine well, bringing the School from its early days of development to its current recognition as a national leader in educating physicians in primary health care. We thank Dr. Skelton for his excellent work as dean and look forward to the ideas and initiatives Dr. Jobe will bring to the School of Medicine and the University."
Skelton will continue to serve Mercer as senior vice president for University Research and Health Affairs.
Jobe will assume her new responsibilities at Mercer University in July 2001.
With a bachelor's degree in biology and secondary education from Middlebury College in Vermont, Jobe discovered her passion for health care through volunteer work at a hospital and while serving as an operating room technician. She decided to continue her education in nursing, earning the R.N. from the College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minn., in 1976, and the master of science in nursing in medical-surgical nursing/education from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1978. She later worked as a neurosurgery nurse at University Hospitals, Minneapolis, then as a nursing instructor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Her desire to pursue a career involving the educational process, coupled with her interest in the patient-physician relationship and the relationship between health professionals, sent her back to the classroom to earn her doctor of medicine degree from the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, in 1986. She completed her residency in family practice at Florida Hospital, Orlando, Fla.
After completing her residency, she joined the Department of Family Medicine at East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine as an instructor in 1989. After a year, she became assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and assistant dean for Student Affairs for the School of Medicine. Her responsibilities at the medical school steadily increased, with her serving during her career as associate dean for Student Affairs, 1992-1994; associate professor, 1993-1997; associate dean for Students Affairs and Academic Programs, 1994-1995; senior associate dean, 1995-2001; professor, 1997-present; and assistant vice chancellor for Health Sciences, 1998-2001. She has also been an adjunct clinical professor at East Carolina University's School of Nursing since 1994.
"I am interested in educating a new generation of physicians who are caring, compassionate and life-long learners," said Jobe, who characterizes her leadership style as participative. "I believe the care of patients in today's complex health care system requires improved collaboration between health professionals and improvement in the quality of interdisciplinary teamwork."
Her scholarly activity over the past decade includes grants from the National Cancer Institute, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. Desiring to enhance the patient/health professional relationship, she served as founding board chair of the non-profit organization Common Ground Solutions, which helps improve communication skills of health care professionals.
She is a frequent speaker and holds membership on numerous state and national committees and boards related to health care and medical education. Her writings have been published in national journals, including American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Family Medicine, Journal of Nutrition Education, Academic Medicine, Archives of Family Medicine and Family Community Health. She has contributed to three textbooks and has co-authored four multimedia education projects.
Mercer established the School of Medicine in 1982 to improve the supply and distribution of primary care and other needed specialty physicians in rural and other medically underserved areas of Georgia. The School of Medicine continues to rank among the top medical schools in the country in percentage of graduates choosing a primary care specialty. At least 54 percent of Mercer graduates are practicing in federally-designated health professional shortage areas in Georgia.
Mercer has been named one of the best colleges and universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report for 11 consecutive years. With campuses in Macon and Atlanta, it is the only independent university of its size in the country to offer programs in liberal arts, business, engineering, education, medicine, pharmacy, law, theology and nursing.
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