People: Amy McGaha joins UNR, Renown as department chair

Amy McGaha has joined the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, and Renown Health as department chair of family and community medicine.

McGaha comes to Nevada from Omaha, where she served as the Roland L. Kleeberger, MD professor and chair for the Creighton University School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine.

McGaha previously served as the assistant director of medical education for the American Academy of Family Physicians. She has also served on the board of trustees for the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and on the board for CHI Health.

Prior to those appointments, McGaha provided inpatient and outpatient care for Freeman Health Systems in Missouri. McGaha completed her education at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia and completed her residency in family medicine in Tallahassee.

McGaha also completed a Master of Public Health degree at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. She is a fellow of the AAFP.

McGaha will serve as the joint academic and administrative leader defining clinical operations to expand care, enhancing teaching and training programs vital to ambulatory and acute care medicine in Northern Nevada and fostering clinical and translational research and diversity missions.

McGaha will spearhead initiatives to enhance clinical outcomes, promote preventative health measures and foster collaboration among health care providers to optimize patient care delivery. In addition, McGaha will oversee the Family Medicine Residency, a full-scope, fully accredited program at UNR Med.

McGaha’s research has explored maternal health equity. She designed a medical-financial collaborative care practice model to address social determinants of health in patients with type 2 diabetes.

She has also presented nationally on diverse topics, such as “Advancing Inclusion and Belonging in Health Science Education” and “Innovating Interprofessional Collaboration in a Primary Care Setting.”

An author of 25 academic papers, she has a history of community service to schools, hospice organizations and neighborhood health clinics.

McGaha has won many awards for her work in medical education, including the AIHC Interprofessional Practice Award, induction into the Gold Humanism Honor Society at Creighton University, the AAFP Foundation Pfizer Immunization Grant Award, the Physicians Recognition Award from the American Medical Association, and the Ellen Beck Faculty Award for Medical Staff Outstanding Commitment.