Chief Medical Officer, Impact Primary Care Network
Amy Russell, MD, is a leader in healthcare transformation and workforce development, with over 25 years of experience serving rural and underserved communities. Dr. Russell is the Chief Medical and Population Health Officer at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) and the Chief Medical Officer of Impact Primary Care Network. She also serves as faculty in the Department of Family Medicine and at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine western campus.
Dr. Russell’s current work centers on partnering with payors and community-based organizations to design multidisciplinary teams that equip primary care physicians and clinical team members with the skills necessary to improve access, health outcomes, and performance in value-based care. As an organizational leader and ACO executive, she has led multidisciplinary care coordination teams—including integrated behavioral health professionals, clinical pharmacists, nurses, care navigators, and community paramedics—dedicated to identifying at-risk populations, addressing health-related social needs, and supporting individual, group, and home-based primary care.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Russell led the adaptation and expansion of a mobile integrated health model, providing vital support to rural and isolated patients. Under her leadership, her teams developed innovative processes to address social needs in collaboration with human service organizations, effectively supporting managed Medicaid and the Healthy Opportunities program in North Carolina. In 2024, when the impact of Hurricane Helene caused many in Western North Carolina to lose access to essential medical care, MAHEC leveraged their population health infrastructure to respond rapidly—staffing emergency shelters and mobile clinics to provide medication assistance, behavioral health, and prenatal care, restoring access to essential primary care services in the hardest-hit communities.
