Clinical Professors

Aaron Zeller, MD, FAAFP

Clinical Associate Professor
Clemson University School of Health Research

Program Director
Seneca Family Residency Program

Contact: aaron.zeller@prismahealth.org

Who is Dr. Zeller?

Dr. Zeller grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from Purdue University. He went on to graduate Alpha Omega Alpha from Indiana University School of Medicine in 2006. He completed his Family medicine residency at Self Regional Healthcare and then spent one year in rural practice in Indiana prior to beginning his academic career. He has taught at residency programs in South Bend, IN, Greenwood, and Greenville, SC prior to moving to Seneca to start the Seneca Family Medicine Residency Program in 2017. He is a clinical associate professor at UofSC School of Medicine Greenville. His special interests include inpatient and outpatient procedures, health disparities, the opioid epidemic, improving the health of communities, and teaching the next generation of physicians. His scholarly output includes publications in The Journal of Family Practice, FP Essentials, Family Medicine, and The Journal of Rural Health, and he has lectured regionally and nationally about curriculum innovation and healthy organizational culture. He is currently collaborating with Clemson University on tackling the opioid epidemic in the region, as well as building a new academic clinic for underserved patients in Walhalla, SC.

For more information, see his Curriculum Vitae.

 

How Dr. Zeller’s research is transforming health care

At Prisma Health/UofSC School of Medicine-Greenville’s Seneca Family Medicine Residency, Dr. Zeller and his team are building the future of rural graduate medical education, with an emphasis on such innovative concepts as Clinic First, longitudinal curricular approaches to residency training, and interprofessional educational innovation. Their vision is to train and retain competent, compassionate family physicians for sustainable full-spectrum rural practice in order to meet critical healthcare workforce shortages in the Upstate.

Through involvement with Oconee County Opioid Response Taskforce and Prisma Health’s Addiction Research Center, Dr. Zeller’s team is actively addressing the opioid epidemic in the area and studying how stigma can reduce the effectiveness of public health and systems approaches to addressing this crisis. Their goal is to find ways to reduce stigma, increase the recognition of opioid use disorder as a neurobiological disease, and increase awareness of the beneficial effects of harm reduction public health measures in the community over time.

Dr. Zeller is also working with Clemson University’s School of Public Health Sciences on a collaborative effort to build a thriving academic primary care clinic for underserved patients in Walhalla.
 

News and media related to Dr. Zeller’s research

• Fox Carolina: “Doctor Shortage Addressed in the Upstate”


Key Health Research Interest Areas

Rural health, Graduation Medical Education, Innovations in Curricular Design, Interprofessional Learning and Collaboration, Opioid Use Disorder, Neurobiological Basis of Addiction