About Us
Who We are
Enabled on May 24, 1994, the Macon County Health Care Authority (MCHCA) is the organization that owns the Thomas Reed Medical Center in Tuskegee.
Operating the facility is a team effort with the MCHCA board of directors responsible for governance of the building while Community Hospital recruits and manages the staff, which includes nurse practitioner Candice Mangum and Dr. Robert Quarcoo.
Meet the Doctor
Dr. Van Millin, a seasoned physician with a career spanning over four decades, has found renewed purpose and satisfaction in his latest role as a permanent staff member at Community Hospital, providing limited support to Tuskegee Medical & Surgical Center. At 64 years old, Dr. Millin has navigated a rich professional journey, from his early years on the East Coast to his recent work in rural Alabama.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, he practiced medicine across the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas before relocating to Georgia in 2011. There, he worked with Kaiser Permanente and Emory Healthcare, eventually settling in LaGrange, Georgia. His career took a reflective turn with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting him to reevaluate his work-life balance.
A pivotal moment arrived when a recruiter contacted him about an opening in Tallassee. Intrigued by the opportunity, Millin visited the town and was impressed by the warmth of its people and the chance to teach medical students about rural medicine—a field marked by unique challenges such as limited access to specialists.
Affiliated with five medical schools and having served on numerous boards and committees in Georgia, he had made the decision to retire, which lasted a hot second as boredom set in. Grateful for the Tallassee opportunity, he embraced his new role with enthusiasm.
Dr. Millin has now been in Tallassee for nearly two years, working at Community Hospital. He filled a critical role at Tuskegee Medical and Surgical Center shortly after Dr. Robert Quarcoo left in May 2024 to reunite with his wife and children in Ghana.
At the Tuskegee facility, Dr. Millin’s responsibilities include overseeing two nurse practitioners, signing off on their recommendations and engaging in a mix of administrative and hands-on medical duties. This work requires him to be at Tuskegee Medical only one day a week and on that day, he also provides medical attention to patients.
He works closely with nurse practitioners, Candiace Mangum and Cecelia Kearns, describing them both as excellent and noting their exceptional commitment to quality medical care and compassionate patient rapport.
Tuskegee Medical & Surgical Center is an affiliate of Community Hospital, which is contracted by the Macon County Health Care Authority (MCHCA) to provide Macon County residents with access to medical services.
Meet the Doctor
Dr. Van Millin, a seasoned physician with a career spanning over four decades, has found renewed purpose and satisfaction in his latest role as a permanent staff member at Community Hospital, providing limited support to Tuskegee Medical & Surgical Center. At 64 years old, Dr. Millin has navigated a rich professional journey, from his early years on the East Coast to his recent work in rural Alabama.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, he practiced medicine across the Philadelphia and New Jersey areas before relocating to Georgia in 2011. There, he worked with Kaiser Permanente and Emory Healthcare, eventually settling in LaGrange, Georgia. His career took a reflective turn with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting him to reevaluate his work-life balance.
A pivotal moment arrived when a recruiter contacted him about an opening in Tallassee. Intrigued by the opportunity, Millin visited the town and was impressed by the warmth of its people and the chance to teach medical students about rural medicine—a field marked by unique challenges such as limited access to specialists.
Affiliated with five medical schools and having served on numerous boards and committees in Georgia, he had made the decision to retire, which lasted a hot second as boredom set in. Grateful for the Tallassee opportunity, he embraced his new role with enthusiasm.
Dr. Millin has now been in Tallassee for nearly two years, working at Community Hospital. He filled a critical role at Tuskegee Medical and Surgical Center shortly after Dr. Robert Quarcoo left in May 2024 to reunite with his wife and children in Ghana.
At the Tuskegee facility, Dr. Millin’s responsibilities include overseeing two nurse practitioners, signing off on their recommendations and engaging in a mix of administrative and hands-on medical duties. This work requires him to be at Tuskegee Medical only one day a week and on that day, he also provides medical attention to patients.
He works closely with nurse practitioners, Candiace Mangum and Cecelia Kearns, describing them both as excellent and noting their exceptional commitment to quality medical care and compassionate patient rapport.
Tuskegee Medical & Surgical Center is an affiliate of Community Hospital, which is contracted by the Macon County Health Care Authority (MCHCA) to provide Macon County residents with access to medical services.
Board of Directors
The Macon County Health Care Authority Board of Directors is comprised of individuals with strong ties to the community.
In 2023, the MCHCA board was engaged by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has embarked on a nationwide campaign to develop a data base of one million Americans from diverse populations. The goal of the “All of Us Research Program” is to learn how people are affected by what they put in their bodies and how they conduct their lives. The overarching mission is for the NIH to find ways to treat and prevent diseases.
In 2022, MCHCA became the gateway for the Institutional Research Board (IRB), meaning outsiders who are interested in conducting medical research programs in Macon County must have their projects scrutinized by the health care authority. MCHCA Board Chairman, Bernice L. Frazier says, “If an IRB should exist anywhere, it should be here in Tuskegee where a shameful medical experiment took place beginning in the 1930s. We created this IRB against the backdrop of The US Public Service Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male and we have vowed nothing like that will ever happen again in this community.”
Everything the MCHCA does is motivated by concern for the health of Macon County residents. This is why the board encourages everyone to maintain good health practices, including regular checkups by a physician.
Community Engagement
