Amy Russell, MD
Chief Medical and Population Health Officer
Dr. Amy Russell is Chief Medical & Population Health Officer at MAHEC, where she and a staff of more than 1,100 are committed to transforming rural health and wellness through education, the delivery of patient care, and a focus on community and public health.
With more than 25 years of experience in rural and underserved communities, Dr. Russell joined the family medicine faculty at MAHEC in 2013, where she continues to provide patient care. She also serves as faculty at the UNC School of Medicine Asheville campus. Her previous positions at MAHEC include serving as the Director of the Division of Health Innovation, Research and Population Health, where she led the work of improving primary care performance in Asheville and rural Western North Carolina.
Appointed in December 2023 to her current leadership role, Dr. Russell’s 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 the region to lose access to essential medical care, MAHEC leveraged its 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.
Dr. Russell completed her undergraduate degree at Emory University in Atlanta and received her medical degree at The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. As a member of the first class of North Carolina Rural Health Scholars, Dr. Russell visited rural and community health centers across the state and studied health disparities and the unique healthcare issues in rural communities.
Pursuing an interest in Family Medicine and service to medically underserved communities, Dr. Russell completed her residency training at University of Colorado’s rural residency program at Clinica Campesina, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). As a physician leader and eventually the Vice President of Clinical Services at Clinica, she implemented care initiatives including Centering Pregnancy and Centering Parenting, advanced access, and complex care management to achieve improved maternal child health and chronic disease outcomes.