Dr. Jim Hotz has been elected to the ACU Board of Directors at their February meeting with his two year term starting in March. Dr. Hotz’ knowledge, expertise and long-standing commitment to the underserved will be a tremendous asset to ACU’s Board.
Thirty-five years ago, Dr. Jim Hotz helped found Albany Area Primary Health Care a community health center with 13 clinical sites serving over 35,000 poor and rural patients in Southwest Georgia. He still has an active clinical practice and is Clinical Services Director for his program and is also the Medical Director of the Baker County Emergency Medical Services and serves on the Baker County Board of Health. He also serves as an Associate Clinical Professor at Mercer University’s School of Medicine and is the former Chairman of the Board of the Southwest Georgia Community Health Institution, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, the Georgia Association for Primary Health Care, and the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center. He has published numerous scientific articles and has published a novel, “Where Remedies Lie,” about his experiences as a rural primary care doctor. Dr. Hotz’ start in rural Georgia served as the inspiration for the novel and movie “Doc Hollywood,”according to its author Neil Shuman, MD.
Dr. Hotz currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Southwest Georgia AHEC as well as the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition, and on the Steering Committee of the Georgia State Cancer Plan, the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable and Guideline Advantage. He has a BA from Cornell University in Chemistry, and a MD from Ohio State University. He completed his Internal Medicine Internship and Residency at Emory University School of Medicine. In 2009, Dr. Hotz was the recipient of the James Alley Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Georgia Rural Health Association for commitment and service to Rural Georgia.
