New Chief Medical Officer at The Villages VA Outpatient Clinic
PRESS RELEASE
March 18, 2022
The Villages , FL — The North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System (NF/SGVHS) announces the appointment of Dr. Ralph Atkinson, MD, *FACP, as the Chief Medical Officer at The Villages Veterans Affairs (VA) Outpatient Clinic effective February 28, 2022.
He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica in 1982. He completed a 2-year internship in 1985 and became the Medical Officer in Primary Care in Kingston, Jamaica. He worked as a physician in Jamaica and Grand Cayman until coming to the States where he completed an Internal Medicine Residency in 1996 at Howard University Hospital.
Dr. Atkinson started his VA career in 2003 at the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center (VAMC) as an Emergency Department and Urgent Care physician. He went on to serve as the Acting Medical Director for the Emergency Department and Urgent Care from 2007-2008 until becoming the Medical Director in 2008.
In 2012, Dr. Atkinson began serving as the Assistant Associate Chief, Ambulatory Care, Malcom Randall VAMC, until 2015. While continuing his career at the VA, he also became an Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Internal Medicine at the University of Florida in July 2016. In 2017, he became the acting and then Primary Care Section Chief until 2019 at the Malcom Randall VAMC.
Prior to become the CMO at The Villages OPC, Dr. Atkinson served as the Director, Internal Medicine Continuity Clinic, Ambulatory Care since 2015. As CMO at The Villages OPC, Dr. Atkinson will oversee all clinical operations including both Primary and Specialty Care services.
(*FACP: Fellow of the American College of Physicians)