Doctors Who Cook, an annual fund-raiser for the MCG Children’s Medical Center Children’s Heart Program, had its most successful year ever, raising $43,162 to benefit care for children with heart problems and their families.

The event, which began in 1996, enlists the help of about 80 community doctors who donate their time, recipes and culinary skills for this popular tasting event. These "chefs" prepare and serve all their own dishes. Since 1995, the MCG Children’s Medical Center Children’s Heart Program has raised more than a half million dollars, with $280,000 coming from Doctors Who Cook.

More than 500 attend the event, which has sold out every year. Its popularity has also spawned the production of a cookbook, Hearts of Gold, featuring many recipes from the doctors who participate in Doctors Who Cook. The event has also been honored with awards from the American Hospital Association and the Georgia Hospital Association for its uniqueness. Doctors Who Cook was also featured in the February 2005 issue of Southern Living.

Funds from the event have gone toward hospital equipment, research and education, family support, Make-A-Wish Foundation trips, special events, and treats for clinic and hospital patients and much more.

Next year’s Doctors Who Cook takes place on March 18 at the Bell Auditorium. For more information or to order a cookbook, call 706-721-0575.

MCG Health System is composed of three separate organizations -- MCG Health, Inc. and the clinical services offered by the faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the members of the Physicians Practice Group. The physicians of MCG Health System are community physicians, faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia, and employees of the Physicians Practice Group, not employees of MCG Health Inc. MCG Health, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCG Medical Center, MCG Children’s Medical Center, the MCG Sports Medicine Center, MCG Ambulatory Care Center, the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center and related clinical facilities and services. MCG Health, Inc. was formed to support the research and education mission of the Medical College of Georgia and to build the economic growth of the CSRA, the state of Georgia and the Southeast by providing an environment for faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the Physicians Practice Group and community physicians to deliver the highest level of primary and specialty health care. For more information, please visit www.MCGHealth.org.