Plans to expand the Medical College of Georgia to Athens made major strides Tuesday when the Board of Regents heard a much-anticipated report recommending the extension of MCG to the former Navy Supply Corps School property.

The plan the regents heard Tuesday, authored by Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Tripp Umbach, calls for collaboration between MCG and the University to develop a new campus and increased research capacity in biomedicine and public health, according to a news release issued by the BOR. The BOR commissioned the report in September 2007, and regents saw it for the first time Tuesday.

The first class of 40 students is expected to begin courses in Athens by 2009 or 2010, University President Michael Adams said in a recording of a Tuesday news conference provided to The Red & Black by the University.

The University hopes to move classes to the Prince Avenue site by 2012 or 2013, Adams said.

“I’m excited. I’ve waited a long time to get to this point,” Adams said in the news conference following the regents’ meeting. “I think (the expansion) will ultimately … enhance economic development for our entire state.”

University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll Davis said at the news conference the BOR will approve a definite plan at some point in the future that will not differ greatly from Tripp Umbach’s recommendations.

Regents then will lobby legislators for funding, Davis said.

“We will make the absolute best case possible (to legislators) and try and suggest that this is a battle that we cannot afford to lose,” he said. “My assumption is that it will be given a very high priority in the legislature.”

The plan calls for expanded facilities in Augusta, the location of MCG’s main campus, and increased use of existing residential campuses in Savannah and Albany.

If the plan is implemented, MCG could expand from 745 students to 1,200 by 2020, with facilities in Augusta, Athens, Savannah and Albany, according to the release.

Expansion of MCG comes as a result of an increased need for physicians statewide, Davis said. He said Georgia ranks 40th among states in the nation for number of physicians per capita.

“If we do not find a way … to produce more doctors quickly, by 2020, we are going to be last in the nation in terms of the number of doctors,” he said.

Officials Tuesday tried to downplay perceived competition between growth of MCG in Athens and Augusta, pointing to the anticipated economic growth for both communities and the state as a result of the plan.

“This is not an Athens plan we’re talking about. It’s not an Augusta plan we are talking about. It is a Georgia plan we are talking about,” Davis said.

Paul Umbach, the president of Tripp Umbach who presented the report to regents Tuesday, estimates the plan to expand MCG will generate more than 10,000 additional jobs and $1.6 billion annually statewide, the release said.

Daniel Rahn, president of MCG, said his college and the University will have enhanced research capabilities as a result of the partnership.

The enhancement comes from the University’s strength in science research and MCG’s strength in clinical research, Adams said.

“Our research scientists will be competitive for the kinds of science that neither of our institutions are, at present, competitive for on our own,” Rahn said.

Adams said the closure of the Navy Supply Corps School as part of the Defense Department’s Base Realignment and Closure process made the 58 acres available to the University.

“It didn’t take long for the light to go off in my head that we could possibly convert the Navy facility to educational purposes as a health sciences campus,” he said.

A medical campus in Athens makes sense, Adams said, because the University produces more undergraduates who attend medical school than any other institution in the state.

Umbach said expanding medical education facilities is a trend around the country right now.

“All eyes in America are on Georgia today,” he said. “I was really moved by the hundreds of people that we were engaged with throughout this process that weren’t in health care and they weren’t in higher education … they were involved in the fabric of their communities.”