Ted Epperly, M.D., Assumes Role of President of the American Academy of Family Physicians

SAN DIEGO – Ted Epperly, M.D., FAAFP, a family physician in Boise, Idaho, assumes the role of President of the American Academy of Family Physicians today. Previously, he served three years as a director on the AAFP Board of Directors and one year as president-elect. Epperly was elected president-elect in October 2007 by the Congress of Delegates, the AAFP’s governing body. The AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide.

Epperly is program director and chief executive officer of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, Boise. He is also clinical professor of family medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. As AAFP president, Epperly will advocate on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system with an emphasis on payment reform.

A member of the AAFP since 1980, Epperly has advocated on behalf of family medicine and the patients it serves in many ways. He has utilized his academic experience in a variety of roles on the Commission on Education, including serving as chair of the commission and chair of its Graduate Curriculum Subcommittee. He has chaired the Reference Committee on Education at the AAFP Congress of Delegates. He chaired the Program Directors Workshop Planning Committee for the Family Medicine Residency Directors’ National Workshop for three years. He has also served as AAFP board liaison to the Commission on Practice Enhancement, Commission on Continuing Professional Development and the Commission on Health of the Public.

Epperly has held all the elected positions in the Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians, including president. He joined the Idaho Academy of Family Physicians when he retired from the U.S. Army in 2001 and returned to his home state.

Epperly earned his bachelor’s degree at Utah State University, Logan, graduating magna cum laude. He earned his medical degree at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and completed his residency at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, Wash., where he served as chief resident. He completed a family medicine faculty development fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Epperly is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine with a Certificate of Added Qualification in Geriatrics. He also has the AAFP Degree of Fellow, an earned degree awarded to family physicians for distinguished service and continuing medical education.

Epperly’s 21 years in the U.S. Army include service as a family physician, residency director, department chair, chief of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital emergency room during Desert Storm and Desert Shield, commander of a field hospital, chief of staff, director of graduate medical education, and deputy commander of an Army medical center. He was a colonel when he retired. Epperly is a member of the editorial advisory board of the International Society for Men’s Health and Gender, the editorial board of the Annals of Family Medicine and the advisory board of Men’s Health. He is also a reviewer for the Journal of Musculoskeletal Medicine and American Family Physician. He was a residency assistance program consultant before becoming a member of the Accreditation Council for the Graduate Medical Education Residency Review Committee for family medicine, which is responsible for the accreditation of the nation’s family medicine residencies, sports medicine and geriatric fellowships.

Epperly serves as a commissioner on the Central District Board of Health for the four-county area surrounding Boise. In addition he has published more than 45 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters, and given more than 100 lectures nationally and internationally.