Pediatrician Rachel Hunt, MD, is joining Hometown Pediatrics, effective Dec. 30.

As a pediatrician, Dr. Hunt works to establish a long-term relationship with children and their families that promotes trust and open communication.  She provides compassionate, ongoing wellness care, sick care and chronic condition management from newborn to adolescence.

Hometown Pediatrics, which is part of St. Mary's Medical Group, is located just off Hog Mountain Road near the Oconee County Civic Center at 1020 Jamestown Boulevard, Building 200, Watkinsville, Ga., 30677.

Dr. Hunt earned her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in biology and psychology from the University of Georgia. She earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, and completed her pediatrics residency at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, including rotations at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and Regional One Health.

She is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and holds professional certifications and training in numerous areas, including neonatal resuscitation; pediatric advanced life support; Safety Starts with Me, a safety initiative at Le Bonheur; Stewards of Children, a program to protect children from sexual abuse, and advocacy training. Her residency research included "Improving On-Time Immunizations with Reminding Interventions" and she presented "Hypertensive Urgency in a Patient with Nephrotic Syndrome" at a 2018 Morbidity and Mortality Conference.

In addition to her educational and research background, Dr. Hunt brings extensive experience in volunteer outreach to her practice at Hometown Pediatrics, including serving on the Le Bonheur ethics committee, a medical campus outreach mission trip to Trinidad, Kids with a Future tutorial program in Augusta, Ga., an International Service Learning Trip to Costa Rica and Panama, and CrossTrainers, a mentorship program in Athens for elementary school students from low-income communities.