Reid Blackwelder (ETSU) Reid B. Blackwelder, MD, FAAFP, a family physician in Kingsport, Tenn., is a Past President of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The AAFP represents over 129,000 physicians, residents and medical students nationwide.
Blackwelder has been advocating on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system, specifically to implement effective team-based patient-centered care, and to navigate the changing process of healthcare payments from SGR through MACRA. He has been engaged in discussions at state, regional and national levels including in both the US Senate and House on healthcare payment and delivery reform.
He is a Professor and Chair of Family Medicine at the Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. He previously served as program director of the Kingsport Family Medicine Residency Program of ETSU for more than 13 years and remains on faculty at the residency. He is on the steering committee for the Interprofessional Education and Research Committee at the ETSU Health Sciences Center, which is developing innovative approaches to team-based education and care.