Indiana Physician Elected to the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians

SAN DIEGO – Thomas A. Felger, M.D., FAAFP, a family physician in Granger, Ind., has been elected to the board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. Felger was elected to a three-year term by the AAFP’s governing body, the Congress of Delegates.

Felger has been a family physician for more than 30 years. He began his career in solo practice in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1971. He co-founded Fort Wayne’s first urgent care center, and served as a part-time medical director for two HMOs. Additionally, Felger served as an associate director of the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program in South Bend, Ind. Currently he is a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend. Felger also has chaired two hospital family medicine departments. As an AAFP board member, Felger will advocate on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system.

At the state level, Felger has been an active member of the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians since 1972, where he has served as president and chairman of the board of directors. He also has held leadership roles on many of the IAFP’s commissions and committees, including the Health Services Commission and the Legislative Commission. In addition, Felger is an active member of the Indiana State Medical Association and has held numerous leadership positions in the Twelfth District Medical Society.

At the national level, Felger has been an active member of the AAFP since 1972. He has served as an AAFP representative to the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Update Committee since 1999, as well as its Practice Expense Subcommittee, where he has focused on finding a fix for flaws in the current physician payment system. Felger currently serves on the AAFP’s Commission on Practice Enhancement and is the former chair of the Commission on Health Care Services. In addition, he serves as a delegate to the AAFP’s Congress of Delegates.

Felger is an active member of his community as indicated by his service as a county jail physician and past-president of the Inter-Agency Drug Abuse Council. Felger also is co-founder and president of the McMillen Center for Health Education, chairman of the Medical Advisory Committee of Neighborhood Health Services, president of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and an active member of the Studebaker National Museum board of directors.

Felger graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, with a bachelor’s degree in medical science. He earned his medical degree from Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis and completed a rotating internship at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

Felger is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. He also has the AAFP Degree of Fellow, an earned degree awarded to family physicians for distinguished service and continuing medical education.