Program Director and Team - GVMC Family Medicine

Christopher Kennedy, DO, is a graduate of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) Class of 2017. After completing medical school, he went on to complete his Family Medicine residency at United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, WV, where he was Chief Resident in his third year. Dr. Kennedy is board certified in Family Medicine and OMT through the AOBFP and is board certified in Family Medicine through the ABFM. He is an Assistant Professor in Clinical Sciences at WVSOM, where he teaches and precepts medical students across all four years of their education. In addition, he was core faculty member for the Greenbrier Valley Medical Center Family Medicine residency program for four years before taking on the position of Program Director. He maintains a busy clinical practice at the Robert C. Byrd Clinic, a federally designated Rural Health Clinic in Lewisburg, WV. One of his passions is the care and service of underserved populations in rural areas, particularly completing home visits and community outreach. 

Dr. Kennedy chose rural family practice as his career because he felt that this is where he cane make the most impact for those that sometimes get left behind in society. The patient population in West Virginia struggles with many healthcare disparities, lack of access to care and significant chronic disease burden. Many of his patients have a low socioeconomic status and low health literacy with very limited income resources and health insurance options, if any. He considers it an honor and privilege to serve those patients and mentor students and residents to also have compassion for them and go the extra mile to make a difference. He loves doing home visits and regularly incorporates them into his practice, even doing OMT in the homes. He also has a passion for international mission work, most recently traveling to Peru and the Dominican Republic with medical school's chapter of DOCare and CMDA, providing general medical care, joint injection and OMT for chronic musculoskeletal pain in patient populations near the Amazon River in Peru and a mobile clinic based out of a community school in the Dominican Republic. Even though it is hard work, and dealing with the limitations of various health systems and barriers to patient care can be frustrating, it never stops him from trying. He feels like he is living his dream career and hopes to impart his passions on the next generation of practitioners. 

He and his wife live in the Lewisburg, WV, area with their three children. They love to spend time with family and be involved in community events and projects. He loves playing soccer, reading books, playing outside with his kids and volunteering in community organizations in town or through their church. 

Chelsea Feger, DO, attended medical school at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) Class of 2017. Dr. Feger took a one-year extension of her time in medical school to complete a graduate teaching program in the Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practices (OPP). After medical school, she completed her residency in our program, where she served as Chief Resident in her third year. Upon completion of her residency, she accepted a faculty position at WVSOM, where she currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Sciences. Before becoming the Assistant Program Director, she played an active role in resident education through precepting in the clinic, teaching didactics and serving as core faculty. She has a passion for hands-on learning and how to deliver the best care to this rural West Virginia community. She also has a special interest in osteopathic manipulation and continues to work as a weekly table trainer in the OPP Department at WVSOM. In addition to working as faculty, Dr. Feger has maintained her clinical practice at the Robert C Byrd Clinic, where she has spent the last seven years treating many of the same patients that established with her during her residency.  

Originally from a small farming community in central Pennsylvania, Dr Feger has always been drawn to rural medicine and caring for underserved populations. She spent a decade as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician, in which, without those services, her community would have to wait for responders to travel over two mountains to provide care. This passion led her to WVSOM for medical school and further fueled her decision to complete her residency at GVMC. Dr. Feger first spent time at GVMC as a rotating third- and fourth-year medical student. She stated that her preceptors showed such dedication to teaching, and even as a medical student, she knew it would be the environment she would thrive in as a resident. She reported that with residency being the hardest time in a medical trainee's life, being at a hospital where the culture was so supportive of healthy learning was critical to her decision. Dr. Feger now values her role as she assists in directing the program that makes her feel at home.  

Outside of work, Dr. Feger's passion is her family. With a husband and three young children, born at various times throughout her medical journey, she values the importance of a work-life balance. She enjoys going to her children's soccer games, camping, hiking and biking in her free time.   

Abigail Frank, DO, is a 2010 West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) graduate. She completed a Family Medicine Residency at Greenbrier Valley Medical Center (GVMC) in Ronceverte, WV, in 2013. She is currently a family physician at the Robert C. Byrd Clinic in Lewisburg, WV. Dr. Frank is an Associate Professor for the clinical sciences department, the Assistant Dean of Graduate Medical Education at WVSOM, the Executive Director of the Mountain State Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution, as well as the Director of Medical Education for CAMC Greenbrier Valley Medical Center.