Those are just a few words used to describe Dr. Hamzah Ali, a 2022 graduate of the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and the recipient of this year’s John F. Beard Award for Compassionate Care.

Augusta University President Brooks A. Keel, PhD, presented the Beard Award to Ali during the MCG Hooding Ceremony on May 12. Ali attended the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, MCG’s four-year campus in Athens.

“Hamzah stands out amongst the top 1-2% of service-oriented, selfless and compassionate students I have ever met,” says Dr. Shelley Nuss, campus dean at the Medical Partnership.

As an undergraduate at the University of Georgia with an interest in health equity and social determinants of health, Ali, who hails from Columbus, Georgia, worked with Dr. Suzanne Lester, family medicine site clerkship director at the Medical Partnership, to assess the feasibility and subsequently establish a multidisciplinary free mobile clinic to provide health care to the underserved.

Since its opening in 2018, the clinic has provided more than $132,000 in free medical care to more than 600 underserved people in Athens. It also has provided more than 3,400 free COVID-19 tests to vulnerable community members who are transportation-limited, homeless and uninsured.

The clinic also has provided meaningful perspective to future generations of physicians.

“When he helped design the clinic, little did he realize the impact would be much greater than getting care to people who needed it,” says Dr. Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, a professor of medicine at the Medical Partnership. “He also helped instill in his colleagues, and the medical students to come after him, firsthand knowledge of how social determinants impact health for individuals in our own community.”

“What makes him stand out among his medical student peers is his commitment to patient care, his phenomenal work ethic and his humility about his part in the process,” adds Dr. Mary Bond, director of clinical skills and assistant professor of medicine at the Athens Campus.