Denise Kornegay, who established Georgia’s Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) program three decades ago, has retired as director after building a network aimed at improving health care access across the state, particularly in rural areas.
Kornegay began her work by writing Georgia’s first AHEC grant proposal 30 years ago. Kathryn Martin, associate dean for Regional Campuses at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University and former AHEC deputy director under Kornegay, described her impact: “She wrote the first word. She took it from a concept all the way through to become funded. She’s kind of like a rock star – you don’t have to say her last name. She’s just Denise. Everybody knows who she is.”
Since its inception, the program has expanded to reach 32,000 health career students annually and serves as a model for workforce development nationwide. The network includes six centers across Georgia plus its home base in Augusta.
David C. Hess, dean of MCG, commented on Kornegay’s influence: “Under her leadership, the network – six centers across Georgia plus our home base in Augusta – has become a model for coordinated, community-based training. Her work has touched every corner of the state, and her impact will continue to live on in the students we train, the clinicians we support and the communities we serve.”
Kornegay plans to remain active following retirement by continuing as a national team trainer for the Parkinson’s Foundation and pursuing other interests such as travel and writing. “I want to go out while people still will miss me,” she said. “I want to go out while I still have 20 years of good health and the ability to do things.”
Her personal connection to rural health stems from family experience; her grandfather died after being removed from life support in a rural hospital due to limited resources. “Rural health is real to me,” Kornegay said. “And I’m passionate about it.”
Kornegay holds degrees from Carson-Newman College and the University of Georgia and started her career with internships focused on health planning before working at Mercer Medical School under Dean Doug Skelton.
“What he taught me is that your management style will either limit people or it will make them fly, and he taught me how to make people fly because he let me fly,” Kornegay recalled about Skelton.
Erin Mundy, who worked alongside Kornegay for two decades, will succeed her as director. Kornegay expressed confidence in Mundy: “She knows the people, and she knows the work well. She’ll do some things differently, I hope so, because she’s fresh,” she said. “But I think she’ll protect the program and continue its integrity.”
During her tenure, Kornegay introduced initiatives such as the Preceptor Tax Incentive Program—the first nationwide effort providing tax incentives for community physicians who train students—which now serves as a model adopted by multiple states.
Hess noted: “Denise recognized early on that while our community clinical faculty give so much of their time to teaching, we had no meaningful way to acknowledge that commitment. Her idea changed that… The first program of its kind in the nation has become a powerful way to thank and support the preceptors who shape the next generation.”
The Primary Care Summit was another innovation under Kornegay’s leadership—an event bringing together stakeholders statewide—and an academically neutral approach helped secure legislative backing for student housing initiatives benefiting various institutions.
As she transitions into retirement with ongoing roles including training healthcare teams nationally through the Parkinson’s Foundation, colleagues believe this marks not an end but a new chapter.
Martin stated: “We’re not going to say ‘goodbye.’ We’re just going to say ‘hello from a new place.’ She’s such a bright woman with so many interests. I don’t think we’ll see her go away. I think she’ll emerge in a different place and in a different capacity.”
