ATLANTA – Albany-based Phoebe Putney Health System and Atlanta’s Morehouse School of Medicine agreed Monday to enter a partnership aimed at improving health-care access in an area suffering from a shortage of medical providers.

Southwest Georgia’s largest and most comprehensive health system and the historically Black medical school signed a memorandum of understanding to participate in multiple education, research, and community benefit initiatives.

The agreement will establish a regional Morehouse School of Medicine campus at the main Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and provide clinical training to Morehouse students and residents at hospitals and clinics throughout the Phoebe system.

“Morehouse School of Medicine is committed to increasing and diversifying the health-care workforce, especially in historically underserved rural and urban communities throughout Georgia, the nation, and the world,” said Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO of the Morehouse medical school. “That includes creating opportunities for young physicians to receive exceptional training in communities where they can have the most meaningful impact.”

“There is a nationwide shortage of physicians that is particularly acute in small urban and rural areas like Southwest Georgia,” added Scott Steiner, the Phoebe Putney system’s president and CEO. “We must be better at growing our own by providing more opportunities for physicians with a connection to Georgia to train in our part of the state.”

Phoebe and Morehouse already have built a strong relationship. For years, Morehouse medical students have completed elective rotations at Phoebe.

The two institutions have also worked together in programs providing free prostate cancer screenings and pairing Phoebe nurses with first-time mothers before and after delivery.

Phoebe and Morehouse will establish an executive committee to oversee the partnership and a steering committee that will meet monthly to track progress toward shared goals.