James C. Welsh, MD, MBA, MPH, serves as vice president, Primary Care Services, for MedStar Medical Group. In this role, he provides overall medical direction to the MedStar Health Primary Care pillar and works in partnership with the vice president of Primary Care Operations. He directs initiatives related to fiscal performance, access, quality improvement, patient experience, physician compensation, and strategy for MedStar Medical Group in adult and pediatric primary care, pediatric specialty care, neonatology, and geriatric services. He is also the MedStar Medical Group liaison for MedStar Health’s partnership with One Medical primary care medical practices, as well as the MedStar Shah Medical Group.
Prior to this role, Dr. Welsh held numerous positions at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, where he worked from 1995 to 2015. He served as chair of the Department of Family Medicine from 2008 to 2015, where he oversaw the clinical, academic, and research activities of the 27 faculty in that department. Concurrently, he served as assistant vice president of Student Health Services for Georgetown University, where he was responsible for all medical and behavioral health services delivered to the university’s more than 19,000 students.
During his tenure at MedStar Georgetown, he was also vice president of the Community Practice Network and associate medical director of the hospital. In addition, he held posts as associate professor of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine and as associate professor in the Department of Human Science in the School of Nursing and Health Studies.
Dr. Welsh completed his undergraduate degree with honors from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia followed by a residency in family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston. He also received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mary Washington, as well as a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University. He is board-certified in family medicine and was a practicing family physician in Fredericksburg, Virginia for 10 years before Joining MedStar Georgetown.