The National Academy of Medicine has selected Lars Peterson, MD, PhD, as the 2019 James C. Puffer, MD/American Board of Family Medicine Fellow.
Peterson serves as the vice president of research at ABFM in Lexington, Kentucky. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has over 100 national/international conference presentations under his belt.
Dr. Peterson is also an associate professor at the University of Kentucky Department of Family and Community Medicine, where he provides direct clinical care and teaches students and residents.
A 1994 graduate of Richfield High School, Peterson received his medical and graduate degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, before completing his family medicine residency training at Trident/Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.
Peterson leads a team of researchers at the ABFM focused on investigating the ecology of family medicine and what enables family physicians to provide high quality care; in addition to the role of certification, particularly the impact of certification activities on quality. His personal research interests also include investigating associations between area level measures of health care and socioeconomics with both health and access to health care, rural health, primary care and comprehensiveness of primary care.
As a NAM Fellow, Peterson will receive a research stipend of $25,000 to further his career. Named in honor of James C. Puffer, M.D., president and chief executive officer emeritus of the ABFM, the fellowship program enables talented, early career health policy and science scholars in family medicine to participate in the work of the academies and further their careers as future leaders in the field. NAM Fellows continue their main responsibilities while engaging part-time over a two-year period in the academies’ health and science policy work.
The National Academy of Medicine, established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social and behavioral sciences.
The NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors in both domestic and international settings.
The NAM collaborates with peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of sciences, engineering, and medicine.