The Southern Medical Association (SMA) is pleased to announce G. Waldon Garriss, III, MD, MS, MBA, MHA, as the Chair of the Association’s Education Committee.

Dr. Garriss is Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He most recently practiced internal medicine and pediatrics within the Wellstar health system in Marietta, Georgia and was Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at WellStar Kennestone Regional Medical Center, also in Marietta, Georgia.

A member of SMA since 2017, Dr. Garriss has served as a member of the Education Committee for more than six years, as well as a content reviewer for the Association. Additionally, Dr. Garriss has been instrumental in the creation of a scoring rubric to help standardize the SMA abstract review process. 

As a dually trained internal medicine and pediatric specialist who works as a clinician educator, Dr. Garriss has spent much of his career working to improve training for medical students, residents, fellows, and physicians in need of continuing medical education. Of his new role as the Education Committee Chair, Dr. Garriss said, “I enjoy collaborating with colleagues throughout the country to improve medical education and foster excellence,”