President Keel announces administrative changes in Legal Affairs

CONTACT: Kelly Jasper, 706-513-0719, kjasper@augusta.edu

Augusta, Ga. (Feb. 14, 2017) – New administrative appointments will enhance legal and compliance functions at Augusta University.

Effective February 15, 2017, Christopher J. Melcher will serve as vice president and general counsel for Augusta University (AU). Lee Hamil Little will serve as general counsel for the AU Health System, including the AU Medical Center.

Melcher joined the organization in 2014 as vice president and general counsel for Augusta University. In this role, he will head the University’s Office of Legal Affairs, serving as a campus-wide resource regarding legal issues, including contracts, employment and discretionary issues, inventions, copyrights and other intellectual property.

Little joined the organization in 2004 as associate legal advisor for Augusta University and was later promoted to senior legal advisor. She will lead the Health System’s Office of Legal Affairs, advising on issues related to contracts, clinical services and quality, insurance and risk management, and employment and litigation.

“The growing complexity of the legal and regulatory environment in both health care and higher education requires that we have legal teams laser focused on each of those areas.” said President Brooks A. Keel. “I believe these changes will result in enhanced legal services for our academic, research and medical community.”

The Office of Compliance and Enterprise Risk Management, led by Jim Rush, will now report directly to the president.  “Positioning Compliance and Risk Management as a direct report to the president will help assure that those critical functions get attention and support from the highest levels of our leadership team,” Keel said.