Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) Dean Jean R. Sumner, M.D., FACP, recently received the Ralph O. Claypoole Sr. Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians (ACP), a national organization of internists and the largest medical specialty organization in the U.S.

Dr. Sumner is the first Georgian to receive the prestigious award, established by ACP’s Board of Regents in 1979.

The Ralph O. Claypoole Sr. Memorial Award is presented annually to an outstanding practitioner of internal medicine who has devoted her or his career to the care of patients. The practitioner must be a clinician who is highly respected by her or his peers and colleagues for clinical skills and who has been a role model.

“I am humbled to receive the Ralph O. Claypoole Sr. Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians,” said Dr. Sumner. “Patient-focused care is the foundation of quality medicine. I am grateful and honored to be recognized in this area.”

Dr. Sumner has a passion for underserved areas and has served in rural Georgia most of her career, practicing as an internist in Washington and Johnson counties before becoming dean of Mercer’s School of Medicine in 2016.

A member of MUSM’s first graduating class in 1986, she became a community faculty preceptor for the School of Medicine upon completing her internal medicine residency at The Medical Center, Navicent Health, in Macon in 1989.

Dr. Sumner has served as hospital chief of staff and nursing home medical director, as well as a board member, chair and president of numerous community and statewide professional organizations. At the state level, she served most recently as a governor-appointed member, then president and medical director of the Georgia Composite Medical Board. 

She is also a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, an honor bestowed upon her by her peers for personal integrity, superior competence in internal medicine, professional accomplishment and demonstrated scholarship.

“Jean Sumner is a worthy recipient of the Ralph O. Claypoole Sr. Memorial Award,” said Mercer President William D. Underwood. “She has devoted her life to patient care in rural areas of Georgia, and since 2016 has led our School of Medicine to carry out its impactful mission to prepare physicians to practice primary care medicine in rural and underserved areas of our state. She models that mission for our students every single day. We are very proud to have Jean Sumner leading the Mercer University School of Medicine.”