2024 Outstanding AlumnA Award Winner
A fourth-generation physician, Dr. Kelly Rodney Arnold, established Clínica Médicos in 2015 as a groundbreaking bilingual medical home for Chattanooga’s underserved Latino community. As its Medical Director, Dr. Arnold leads the clinic’s staff of 50 in creating a new model for affordable, accessible, culturally competent healthcare while meeting the primary and urgent care needs of her growing patient population. In 2021, she founded the Médicos Mission Fund, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to align public and private support around essential, equitable healthcare for those patients who need it the most. Through the Médicos Mission Fund, Clínica Médicos provides nearly $3 million of charitable care annually.
Dr. Arnold’s belief in compassionate, innovative disruption has put Clínica Médicos at the forefront when reinventing community healthcare, receiving national acclaim. The bilingual model provides obstetrics, pediatric and newborn care in addition to full women’s health and contraceptive care. Seven days a week, acute and chronic care blend with minor surgery, ultrasound, X-ray, on-site laboratory, social work, health navigators, mental healthcare, and pharmacy. The addition of pediatric dentistry and broader behavioral health services is planned for the fall of 2024.
As an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at UT College of Medicine/Erlanger, Dr. Arnold intertwines the academic world with her community clinic. The Clínica Médicos Obstetrics fellowship program empowers young physicians geared towards urban and global missions. This innovative fellowship provides a unique educational environment in surgical obstetrics and equips physicians with skills to care for the region’s most vulnerable populations. The robust obstetrics program at Clínica Médicos managed 2,039 deliveries since inception linked to educational opportunities for family medicine residents within the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga.
Under the direction of Dr. Arnold, Clínica Médicos played a pivotal role in regional pandemic relief efforts and championed equitable testing practices. Clínica Médicos was the first community site to receive vaccines from the State of Tennessee and set the standards for comprehensive care inside pandemic relief in Hamilton County. Over 50% of vaccines administered were to low-income families, and over 50% were within communities of color.
Dr. Arnold and her team have been lauded for their healthcare innovation with several prestigious accolades. In 2022, Governor Bill Lee honored Clínica Médicos with the Governor’s Award For Excellence, highlighting the clinic’s ongoing commitment to “bridging gaps and changing lives.” Since then, other awards include the Chattanooga Times Free Press/Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee “Champion of Healthcare-Community Outreach,” American Academy of Pediatrics Tennessee Chapter “Friend of Children,” Tennessee Medical Association “Distinguished Service Award,” Footprint Foundation Leadership Award, and the 2015 Chattanooga Start-Up Award.
In 2020, the Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians awarded Dr. Arnold Physician of the Year for her unwavering dedication to family medicine, academics, and community service. She serves as a United States Civil Surgeon for immigration services, completed the Leadership Tennessee Class VII program through Lipscomb University, and was a 2021 member of the Young American Leaders Program class at Harvard Business School. Dr. Arnold is a proud University of Tennessee graduate(‘00) who received her medical degree from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Memphis (‘06) and completed her Family Medicine Residency at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga (‘09). She and her husband, Dr. Justin Arnold (‘05), have three children, and their families are dedicated to medical missions locally and abroad.