Dave Westfall, MD

Education & Certifications

Medical School:

University of Florida College of Medicine

Residency:

Medical College of Virginia at Riverside Hospital, Newport News, Virginia

Masters Degree:

Emory Rollins School of Public Health, Masters of Public Health (MPH)

Undergraduate Degree:

University of Florida, Double Major in English and Chemistry

About

David Westfall, MD, MPH, CPE was born in Ithaca, New York but grew up in Gainesville, Florida where his father was a biology professor at the University of Florida.

Dr. Westfall attended Davidson College in North Carolina before transferring to the University of Florida where he earned a double major in English and Chemistry. He completed medical school at the University of Florida College of Medicine where he was recognized at graduation as the outstanding medical student in pediatrics. He was exposed to public and population health after his first year of medical school. He lived in the clinic of the Big Cypress Reservation in south Florida for three weeks administering glucose tolerance tests and studying the patterns of diabetes within Seminole families in conjunction with a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Florida College of Medicine. The results of their study were published in a public health journal.

Dr. Westfall completed his residency training at the Medical College of Virginia at Riverside Hospital, Newport News, Virginia. He was chief resident in his third year. He was responsible for overseeing 36 residents as well as organizing a voluntary call schedule to provide weekend medical coverage at Fort Monroe.

He achieved the rank of Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy while teaching in the Family Medicine residency program at the Naval Aerospace and Regional Medical Center in Pensacola, Florida. In this role, he was responsible for the educational curriculum and was recognized by the residents as the outstanding clinical instructor.

Dr. Westfall and his wife moved to Gainesville, Georgia in 1978 where he established a private Family Medicine practice. He became active in the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians as well as the medical staffs of Lanier Park Hospital and Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC). He served as chief of staff at Lanier Park and later as secretary of the medical staff at NGMC. He was recruited by Northeast Georgia Health System in 1993 to help develop the Primary Care Network (the precursor to Northeast Georgia Physicians Group). He became the hospital’s first physician executive as vice president of Medical Affairs and medical director of the PCN.

In 2006, he accepted the position of the director of Public Health for the 13 counties in northeast Georgia and earned an MPH at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health in 2009. He became an affiliated professor at Emory in 2010 and taught one semester a year in the Executive MPH program for 10 years until switching his academic involvement to the NGMC Family Medicine residency. He is also an adjunct professor at the Medical College of Georgia’s Family Medicine department. He continues to see patients at the Good News Clinic, which he helped start in 1992 to meet the needs of uninsured patients in Hall County and has grown to be the largest free clinic in Georgia. He was recognized by both the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians as well as the Medical Association of Georgia for his history of community service.

Dr. Westfall retired from the Georgia Department of Public Health in December of 2016. After teaching his annual course at Emory in Spring 2017, he completed a through hike of the Appalachian Trail (2,200 miles), completing it on December 1, 2017. He was also recognized by Rotary as the “Man of the Year” in 2016 for his contributions to the community.

Dr. Westfall currently volunteers with Habitat for Humanity as a board member, and has participated in building eight houses, helping to provide affordable housing for families in northeast Georgia. He also sees patients monthly at the Good News Clinic and is active on several local and regional boards, including chairing the Chamber of Commerce Healthcare Committee and serving as board chair of Foothills Area Health Education Center.

In his spare time, he enjoys reading, bicycling, motorcycling, hiking, fishing, boating and traveling.

Dr. Westfall and his wife Faye have three grown daughters and four grandchildren.