Douglas Spotts, MD, FAAFP
Director
Dr. Spotts advocates on behalf of family physicians and patients to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system.
Douglas Spotts, MD, FAAFP, is a family physician in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which represents 124,500 physicians and medical students nationwide. As an AAFP Board member, Dr. Spotts advocates on behalf of family physicians and patients to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system.
Dr. Spotts is a graduate of Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He is a board-certified family physician, having completed his residency training in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the AAFP and of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He has served on the Board of Directors of the AAFP since 2025.
Bringing family medicine to health system leadership
Dr. Spotts’ career experiences have included private practice family medicine in his hometown, teaching medical students and resident physicians and serving in several physician executive roles. Highlights of his career include serving as medical director of Albright Care Services in Pennsylvania, a skilled nursing facility; chief medical information officer at Evangelical Community Hospital (now WellSpan Evangelical) in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania; health system board member of Evangelical Community Hospital; and vice president/chief health officer at Meritus Health in Maryland. He managed the 140-member ambulatory medical group there, led population and community health initiatives and established the Meritus Family Medicine Residency Program in 2019.
Shaping the future of family medicine
He returned to Penn State University in July 2023 to teach full-time in the MHA program as an associate teaching professor. In this position, he also teaches health systems science to Penn State College of Medicine students. In 2026, he also began teaching duties in Penn State's Family Medicine Residency Program in State College, Pennsylvania. He continues to explore the use of telehealth in expanding access to primary care through clinical practice in urgent care with Amwell Medical Group.
Dr. Spotts is the past president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians and the AAFP Foundation. During his leadership years with the AAFP Foundation, the organization strengthened the Family Medicine Cares programs (USA and International), Family Medicine Leads (and the Emerging Leaders Institute) and Family Medicine Discovers.