‘Genuine Always’: Dr. James Coleman leads G.A. Carmichael with commitment to community care

By Courtney Warren

For Dr. James L. Coleman Jr., healthcare is about more than treatment. It’s about trust.

For more than nine years, Coleman has dedicated his career to G.A. Carmichael Family Health Center, guiding the Canton-based organization with a steady belief that when staff grow, patients thrive. A proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., he brings the values of leadership, mentorship and community uplift into every decision he makes.

That philosophy is rooted in both his own journey and the legacy of Dr. George Albert Carmichael, the health center’s namesake. Dr. Carmichael, a pioneering Black physician and fellow Kappa, spent more than 50 years knocking on doors and opening pathways to care in Canton. Today, Coleman carries that mission forward, ensuring those doors remain open for generations to come.

At the heart of his leadership is a mantra: “Educating and Elevating, Because Better Teams Create Better Care.” Coleman said that at G.A. Carmichael, building people is central to building healthier communities.

“One of my leading mantras related to GA and our staff is this: ‘At GA, we build people,’” he said. “Many at GA came to our organization without degrees, without skill sets, and without training in a specific area, but they have been given opportunities to grow. Because they’ve been helped and built, the expectation is to return that back to our patients in the provision of quality care.”

That investment in staff development has translated into broader services for families across central Mississippi. Under Coleman’s leadership, G.A. Carmichael has expanded OB/GYN, dental, internal medicine, pharmacy and behavioral health care. School-based health centers bring care directly to students, while programs such as the 340B Prescription Program, a Sliding Fee Schedule and a dedicated outreach team ensure that no family is left behind.
Coleman said it’s hard to single out one community partnership as most impactful because each meets a different need.

“Our partnership with schools allows us to keep well children well and help sick children become well, often without parents having to leave work,” he explained. “Our partnership with the City of Canton helps cut costs for businesses and employees by expanding care in non-traditional ways. And our national research collaborations allow us to show the importance of partnerships and share best practices more broadly. Because each targets a different population, they all carry equal importance.”

Those partnerships have placed G.A. Carmichael at the forefront of research and innovation. Through the Jackson Heart Study Community Engagement Center, the organization became one of the first federally qualified health centers in the nation to receive a major National Institutes of Health research contract.

Looking ahead, Coleman said his focus is on helping Mississippi rewrite its health story.

“The most important change I hope to see in the next five years is helping well citizens stay well and helping sick people become well and maintain their status of being well,” he said. “We have created a new Office of Population Health that will examine disparities, seek funding and build partnerships to invest in the health of our population.”

The motto “Genuine Always” serves as both a promise and a philosophy, Coleman said. It represents care delivered with dignity, respect, privacy and accessibility — no matter a patient’s income or circumstances.

“Our motto ‘Genuine Always’ is a pledge that every patient at G.A. Carmichael will experience care that is authentic, compassionate and grounded in trust and dignity,” he said.