Richard Pels

Richard Pels, MD, was appointed to the position of Chief of Medicine at CHA in 2017. Dr. Pels has been with CHA since 1983, serving in numerous leadership roles including associate chief of medicine, president of the medical staff, director of the Internal Medicine Residency program, director of graduate medical education and most recently, interim Chief of Medicine.

Dr. Pels graduated summa cum laude from Duke University and received his medical doctorate from the University of Florida. He completed primary care internal medicine residency training at CHA and fellowship training in general medicine and medical education at Harvard Medical School. His special interest areas are refugee health, chronic pain and medical education. Dr. Pels is the recipient of many prizes and awards including the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award at HMS, CHA’s Medical Staff Lifetime Achievement Award and the Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.