Alabama’s rural communities face some of the nation’s steepest primary care challenges — from shrinking workforces and hospital closures to fragile EMS coverage and financial pressures that threaten everyday access to care. To gather deeper insight into the breadth of issues facing rural regions, we are turning to colleagues to surface the problems facing primary care, brainstorm potential solutions, and identify those willing to help.

To ensure we translate insight into action, the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, Alabama Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Network, Medical Association of the State of Alabama (MASA), and Alabama Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) are partnering to offer a Rural Primary Care Health Summit. Join us for this summit, bringing together leaders, physicians, hospital CEOs, legislators, and experts from across Alabama to explore funding models, policy, and partnerships that could strengthen rural health.

Date: October 23, 2025

Time: 8 am-12:30 pm

Location: Hilton Birmingham Downtown at UAB, 808 20th Street South, Birmingham, Alabama, 35205

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Keynote Address

"The State of Rural Primary Care in Alabama"

Scott Harris, M.D., MPH
State Health Officer
Alabama Department of Public Health

Scott Harris, MD, MPH, was appointed Acting State Health Officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) in September 2017 and formally designated as Alabama’s 12th State Health Officer in February 2018. A graduate of Harding University in Arkansas, Dr. Harris attended medical school at UAB and served an internal medicine internship and residency at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham before returning to UAB to complete a fellowship in adult infectious diseases. He earned his MPH from the UAB School of Public Health. In 1996, he began his practice in general infectious diseases and HIV medicine in Decatur, Alabama, and began serving as tuberculosis consultant with ADPH. In 2004, he helped to establish the Decatur-Morgan Community Free Clinic, serving 13 years as the medical director, as well as a board member and board chair. The non-profit clinic offers health care and dental care at no charge to low income, medically uninsured residents, and relies heavily on community volunteers. As a volunteer physician, Dr. Harris has served on many international medical missions to Central America, South America, and Africa. In addition to his board certification in internal medicine and infectious disease, he has additional certificates of qualification in tropical medicine from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and in travel medicine from the International Society of Travel Medicine. Dr. Harris left private practice to join ADPH in 2015 as Area Health Officer for seven North Alabama counties, before assuming his current role as State Health Officer.

Summit Agenda

8:00–8:30 am: Registration, coffee & networking

8:30–8:40 am: Welcome & Objective Setting

• Anupam Agarwal, MD, Dean, UAB Heersink School of Medicine
• Irfan Asif, MD, UAB Associate Dean of Primary Care and Rural Health
• Mark LeQuire, MD, President, Medical Association of the State of Alabama

8:40–9:05 am: Keynote by Scott Harris, MD

9:05–9:15 am: Rural Health Transformation Application Update with Emily Marsal, Executive Director, Alabama State Health Planning & Development Agency

9:15–10:15 am: Session 1: Building Alabama's Rural Health Workforce

Session opening remarks: Craig Hoesley, MD, UAB Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education; Chair, UAB Dept. of Medical Education

• Moderator: Earl Salser, MD, Director of Medical Student Education, UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine

Panelists: 

• Sumayah Abed, MD, Director, UAB Dean’s Primary Care Scholars Program
• David Bramm, MD, FAAFP, Director, Rural Medicine Program, UAB Huntsville Regional Medical Campus
• Joseph Coppiano, MD, Medical Director, UAB Comprehensive Urban Underserved and Rural Experience Program
• Sameera Davuluri, MD, Family Medicine Clerkship Director, UAB Dept. Of Family and Community Medicine
• Drake Lavender, MD, FAAFP, Associate Professor, UA Dept. of Family, Internal and Rural Medicine; Director, UA Rural Programs
• Becky Reamey, PhD, Executive Director, Alabama Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Network
• Lacy Smith , MD, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer, Cahaba-UAB Family Medicine Residency, Cahaba Medical Care
• Sen. April Weaver, Vice Chair, Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee

10:15–11:00 am: Session 2: Technology & Prevention for Healthier Rural Communities

Session opening remarks: Tapan Mehta, PhD, Vice Chair of Research, UAB Dept. of Family and Community Medicine; MPI Health Enhancement through Access and Research in Transformative Networks (HEART-NET)  

• Moderator: Erin DeLaney, MD, Vice Chair, Clinical Affairs and Quality, UAB Department of Family and Community Medicine

Panelists: 

• Andrea Cherrington, MD, MPH, Director, UAB Division of General Internal Medicine and Population Science
• Mona Fouad M.D., MPH, Director, Comprehensive Healthy Living Research Center
• Myeisha Hutchinson, HEART-NET Community Advisory Board; Chief of Staff for Birmingham City Councilor, Dr. Darrell O’Quinn
• Alexis T. Mason, MD, Alabama Rural Health Board; Secretary-Treasurer, Medical Association of the State of Alabama
• Eric Wallace, MD, FASN, Chief Medical Information and Digital Health Officer, UAB Health System; UAB Telehealth Medical Director
• Dr. Michael W. Wesley, Sr., HEART-NET Community Advisory Board; Senior Pastor, Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church

11:00–11:45 am: Session 3: Policy & Infrastructure for Sustainable Rural Health

• Moderator: Brittney Anderson, MD, FAAFP, Board Chair, Alabama Academy of Family Physicians

Panelists 

• Anne-Laura Cook, MD, Vice President of Clinical Services, VIVA Health 
• Richard Friend, MD, Dean, UA College of Community Health Sciences
• Beverly Jordan, MD, FAAFP, Alabama State Committee of Public Health; Board of Directors, Alabama Academy of Family Physicians
• Joseph Marchant, MD, CEO, Bibb Medical Center
• Rep. A.J. McCampbell, Former Vice Chair, Health Committee
• Rep. David Standridge, Chair, Alabama House Rural Caucus
• Darrel Weaver, MD, Vice President of Provider Engagement & Support, BCBS

11:45–12:05 pm: Small-Group Breakouts

12:05–12:15 pm: Synthesis & Next Steps

12:15–12:30 pm: Networking Lunch (grab-and-go)