Todd Recognized For Visionary Leadership
Misty Todd, M.D., program director of the Bothwell-University of Missouri Rural Family Medicine Residency at Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, Mo., was honored with the Missouri Hospital Association’s 2026 Visionary Leadership Award for expanding access to primary care in rural Missouri communities. The award was presented Nov. 4 at MHA’s 104th Annual Convention in Kansas City, Mo.
“Dr. Todd understands the interplay between the high demand for rural caregivers and how physician residency shapes where a doctor chooses to practice,” said Jon D. Doolittle, MHA president and CEO. “Her work in shepherding this first-of-its-kind Missouri program at Bothwell Regional Health Center in collaboration with MU Health Care in Columbia, Mo., is helping ensure rural Missourians have access to primary care close to home.”
The fully accredited residency trains family medicine physicians across both health systems. First-year residents train primarily at MU Health Care with some time at Bothwell Family Medicine Associates, Bothwell’s largest primary care clinic. In their second and third years, residents continue primarily at Bothwell Regional Health Center, caring for patients in the clinic and the hospital and completing electives in several specialties.. The program has a 100% board certification success rate and half of its graduates have remained in primary care practices in local communities.
“Dr. Todd doesn’t just teach residents to practice medicine. She shows us what it means to care for a rural community,” said ShiAnne Farris, D.O., a 2026 graduate of the residency who now practices at Bothwell Health Center-Truman Lake in Warsaw, Mo. “I stayed in the community because of what I saw here during my training.”
In addition to primary care, rural communities often face access challenges for obstetric care. To support OB care, Dr. Todd established the family medicine obstetric service at Bothwell to broaden OB access. The service includes four primary care physicians with surgical obstetrics training.
Dr. Todd’s vision for leveraging the residency to improve health care access and establishing a new model of obstetric care has already strengthened the clinical team in Sedalia and surrounding communities. Her leadership of an accredited rural residency program is encouraging — and paving the way for — future rural residency programs in other Missouri communities.
A video honoring Dr. Todd is available here.
Photo caption: Stephen L. Reintjes Sr., M.D., president and CEO of NKC Health in North Kansas City, Mo., and 2026 MHA Board Chair (left), and Jon D. Doolittle, MHA President and CEO (right) present th 2026 Visionary Leadership Award to Misty Todd, M.D.
The Missouri Hospital Association is a nonprofit association in Jefferson City that represents 138 Missouri hospitals. In addition to representation and advocacy on behalf of its membership, the association offers continuing education programs on current health care topics and seeks to educate the public about health care issues.