Barbe WMA bio 5 30 19

DAVID O. BARBE, MD, MHA
David O. Barbe, MD, MHA, a board-certified family physician from Mountain Grove, Missouri,
USA, was the 172nd
president of the American Medical Association (AMA) from June 2017 to
June 2018. He was a member of the AMA Board of Trustees (BOT) from 2009-2019. He served
as chair of the AMA-BOT from 2013–2014, and as a member of its Executive Committee from
2011–2015 and 2016-2019.
Prior to his election to the AMA-BOT, Dr. Barbe served on the AMA Council on Medical Service
from 2003-2009 including chair of the Council 2008-2009. As chair of the Council, Dr. Barbe
participated in the development of much of the AMA’s policy related to coverage of the
uninsured, health care system reform, Medicare reform and health insurance market reform.
Dr. Barbe was a member of the World Medical Association Council from 2016-2019, and
represents the AMA at international medical meetings. He has presented on behalf of the AMA
and WMA at meetings in Taiwan, China, Iceland, Israel and Japan on topics ranging from
medical education and augmented intelligence to shaping the future of the physician practice
environment and expanding universal health coverage. Dr. Barbe was also the presiding AMA
officer at the AMA-hosted WMA General Assembly in Chicago in 2017.
Dr. Barbe received his bachelor’s degree with honors in microbiology and his medical doctorate
from the University of Missouri–Columbia School of Medicine. He completed his residency in
family medicine at the University of Kansas affiliated program in Wichita, Kansas. He also
received his Master of Health Administration from the University of Missouri–Columbia.
Following residency, Dr. Barbe returned to his hometown of Mountain Grove in rural southern
Missouri and established a solo practice in traditional family medicine, including obstetrics,
endoscopy and minor surgery. Over time, Dr. Barbe expanded his independent practice to two
locations and several physicians. After 14 years in independent practice, he merged his group
with Mercy, Springfield, Missouri, a 650-physician multi-specialty integrated health system. He
now serves as Vice President of Regional Operations for Mercy with responsibility for four
hospitals, 75 clinics and more than 200 physicians and advanced practitioners. Mercy has been
named one of the top five large health systems in the United States each year from 2016 –
2019.
Dr. Barbe has a long history of service to organized medicine. He has been a member of the
AMA, the Missouri State Medical Association (MSMA) and the American Academy of Family
Physicians for 30 years. He served on the MSMA Council continuously for more than 25 years,
serving as chair in 2003 and president in 2005. He was a delegate from Missouri to the AMA
from 1997 to 2009 and is past chair of the delegation. At the state level, Dr. Barbe has been a
longtime member of MSMA’s legislative committee, membership committee, and a board
member of the Missouri Medical Political Action Committee.
Dr. Barbe continues to live and practice in his hometown of Mountain Grove. He and his wife,
Debbie, BSN, RN, have two children and six grandchildren.