Switzer named Chair of MCG Department of Neurology

Dr. Jeffrey A. Switzer, co-director of the Joint Commission certified Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center at the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta University Health, has been named chair of the MCG Department of Neurology.

Switzer, a stroke specialist and nationally recognized expert in telestroke care who directs the department’s Telestroke and Teleneurology programs, began his new job Jan. 1.

“Dr. Switzer in one of the best clinical neurologists I have had the pleasure to work with. He has been an integral part of the team that has helped our teaching hospital achieve and maintain Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center designation from the Joint Commission,” says Dr. David Hess, MCG Dean. “That designation ensures our patients, both in Augusta and remotely through our nationally recognized stroke telemedicine program REACH, get state of the art medical care wherever they are. A leader both here and across the country, he is an accomplished educator and a gifted physician, and I look forward to working with him as we continue to grow the department.”

Switzer is AU Health’s principal investigator for the Southeast Coast Center of the National Institutes of Health’s StrokeNet, which was created to conduct small and large clinical trials and research studies to advance acute stroke treatment, stroke prevention, and recovery and rehabilitation. The network of 25 regional centers across the country, which involves more than 200 hospitals, serves as the infrastructure and pipeline for potential treatments for patients with stroke and those at risk for stroke.

He previously served as an American Academy of Neurology representative for the Joint Advisory Group of the American Stroke Association/American College of Emergency Physicians/American Academy of Neurology Stroke Collaborative. The program created the Give Me 5 for Stroke campaign, which has increased awareness about five key symptoms of stroke, when to call 911 and when to get to the emergency department quickly. Switzer also is a member of the American Academy of Neurology’s Telemedicine Work Group and a past member of its Stroke Systems Work Group.

An honored educator, he has twice received MCG’s Exemplary Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education and is a past recipient of the Fenwick T. Nichols Department of Neurology Resident Teaching Award, Exemplary Teaching Award for Excellence in Medical Student Education and Distinguished Faculty Award for Clinical Science.

He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Heart Association and a member of the Augusta University’s Ethics Committee.

Switzer earned his medical degree at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2001 and completed his neurology residency in 2005 and vascular neurology fellowship in 2006, both at MCG and AU Health. He then joined the MCG faculty. He earned a master’s degree in clinical and translational science from Augusta University in 2011.