David J. Welsh, MD, MBA

Elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2024, David Welsh, MD, MBA, is a board-certified general surgeon practicing in Southeast Indiana. After residency and starting a private practice, he quickly got involved in medical staff activities and organized medicine. Dr. Welsh has been heavily involved in both the AMA Organized Medical Staff Section, where he spent years on its governing council and served as council chair, and as a member of the AMA Council of Science and Public Health, including serving as its chair.

While trained in surgery, Dr. Welsh has also long been involved in public health—an interest that has taken him on a journey of innovation and advocacy. In addition to being a county health officer in Ripley County for over 25 years and now covering Franklin County as well, he is a longtime member of the Indiana State Department of Health Trauma Care Committee and a member of the newly formed Trauma Care Commission, which is actively working on completing a statewide trauma system to improve trauma care for all Hoosiers As a former member of the Indiana Public Health Commission, he also was part of the team that authored a report regarding innovation and the delivery of public health care in Indiana.

Born in Indianapolis, Dr. Welsh attended the University of Notre Dame and the Indiana University School of Medicine. In 2018 he earned his MBA from the Ball State University Miller College of Business. Education is an important aspect of Dr. Welsh’s commitment to the profession. Although he works at several rural critical access hospitals, he remains active in educating students at the college, medical school and residency levels, and enjoys being an Advanced Trauma Life Support® instructor and bringing a rural general surgeon’s perspective to residents in training.

A former president of the Indiana State Medical Association and a former chair of the Hospital PTAC at the Joint Commission, Dr. Welsh is a fellow in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and a current member of the ACS Board of Regents. At the ACS he will continue to serve as chair of the Surgeon Specific Registry Quality Improvement Program and as a  member of the Advisory Council for Rural Surgery. Improving quality and safety in the health care workplace are top priorities for Dr. Welsh, especially reducing ergonomic injuries.

Dr. Welsh resides in Batesville, Ind., with his wife, Mary Beth, and spends quality time at his farm, with his grandchildren, and getting a firsthand view of high school sporting events as one of the physicians on the sidelines.

2024–2025

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