Exciting changes are underway for a key Eastern AHEC partner, Mount Desert Island Hospital. Construction is nearing completion on a new center in Bar Harbor to advance the Hospital’s Medical Education program and partnerships.
Scheduled to open in late March, the Kogod Center for Medical Education, funded by a generous gift from Arlene and Robert Kogod, will serve as a welcoming home for medical students and residents who come to MDI Hospital for their rural rotations. Along with living quarters, the facility features conference, seminar, and meeting spaces for students and their colleagues. The Kogod Center is the next step in a decades-long effort to increase access to best-quality, lifesaving care in rural practice, increasing healthcare readiness and responsiveness and bolstering staff recruitment, while addressing the housing shortage on Mount Desert Island.
“The Kogod family recognized early that medical students and residents were key to the Hospital’s strategic vision to train providers in rural medicine and illuminate the complexity of caring compassionately for the community,” said Chrissi Maguire, President/CEO. “The foresight and exceptional generosity of the Kogod family will make a huge impact on every community member who steps through our doors in need of care.”
The Kogod Center will house students and residents from the University of New England, Penn, Tufts, Maine Medical Center, Colby, and Brown, among others. Students stay with the Hospital from a few weeks to a few months, completing rotations and clerkships in various areas.
Dr. Julian Kuffler, MD, MPH has served as MDI Hospital’s Director of Medical Education since January 2019, after practicing as a trusted family physician in the community for over 30 years. Dr. Kuffler plans to retire in Spring 2024, and Dr. Nathan Donaldson, DO, MHA, FACEP has been selected as the new Director of Medical Education. A graduate of University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Donaldson joined MDI Hospital in 2014 as the Medical Director of the Emergency Department. Dr. Kuffler, Dr. Donaldson, and Ann Worrick, MDI Hospital’s Medical Education Program Coordinator, work in close partnership with Maria Donahue, Eastern AHEC Director at Healthy Acadia, to support the Maine AHEC Network’s mission and goals.
