page_title: History of Augusta University
section_title: History of GHSU
hierarchical_section_title: History of Augusta University / History of GHSU
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Medical College, Augusta, Georgia, USA (cropped)
context_page_description: Augusta University was officially formed January 8, 2013, from the consolidation of Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University in Augusta, Georgia by order of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents.
context_section_description: Georgia Health Sciences University was chartered in 1828 by the state of Georgia as the Medical Academy of Georgia to offer a single course of lectures leading to a bachelor's degree. In December 1829, the Georgia General Assembly changed the name to the Medical Institute of Georgia, and again to the Medical College of Georgia in December 1833. City Hospital was the first location of the school on Greene Street, until a move over to The Old Medical College building in 1835 served as the primary home for facilities until 1913. 
  The college began with three programs: Anatomy and surgery, institutes and practices of medicine and diseases of women and children, and materia medica, chemistry, and pharmacy.
  The College of Nursing offered its first classes in the 1940s, and Master's and doctoral programs were first offered in the 1960s. The Colleges of Allied Health Sciences, Dental Medicine and Graduate Studies were added in the next decade, comprising the five schools that made up the University until the 2013 merger.
  The most recent facilities expansions include the Cancer Research Building opened in 2003; the Health Sciences Building in 2006; and a new dental school building in 2011.
  In 2011, the University System of Georgia Board of Regents officially changed the name from the Medical College of Georgia to Georgia Health Sciences University, to reflect the university having "more than just a medical school" as President Ricardo Azziz stated to the Augusta Chronicle. The MCG name became that of the medical school within GHSU, alongside the other four colleges.
caption: Old Medical College in Augusta, Georgia in 1934, where the Medical College of Georgia's first classes were held
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