Leadership
Shannon Dowler, MD, CPE, is a family physician, fellow, certified physician executive, and healthcare consultant. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Family Physicians. Since February 2024, she has been an STI consultant for the U.S. HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary and served as Acting CMO for the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy. Additionally, she provides STI consulting as the Deputy Medical Director for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Health Department. In April, she will complete a five-year term on the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and STD Prevention and Treatment (CHACHSPT) and serves as an advisor on the Nurture NC Steering Committee, an initiative focused on improving maternal and infant health outcomes and reducing disparities through targeted policy reform. She also holds additional consulting roles supporting health policy and population health at the state level.
As the immediate past CMO of NC Medicaid and Assistant Secretary for Health Access for NCDHHS (2019-2024), Dr. Dowler led efforts throughout COVID-19 to increase testing and vaccination in historically marginalized populations and rapidly transform Medicaid clinical policies to accommodate telehealth. She blended her work on the payer side with department-wide initiatives aimed at improving healthcare access for all populations across the Southeast United States and was a key leader in Medicaid expansion efforts in North Carolina.
An avid educator and advocate for sexual health, Dr. Dowler speaks at local, state, and national levels on STD prevention, diagnosis, and treatment for both professional and lay audiences. Known by the moniker “RapDktaD,” she has produced numerous educational rap videos, including “STDs Never Get Old,” which gained brief international attention. In 2023, Johns Hopkins Press published her book Never Too Late: Your Guide to Safer Sex After Sixty. To learn more, visit ShannonDowlerMD.com.
