Recognized for Leadership, Service, and Improving Medical Care for Underserved Patients

 
Raleigh, NC, October 13, 2025 – Douglas G. Briggs, MD, a Family Medicine Doctor from Raleigh, NC, has been awarded Constellation Quality Health’s T. Reginald Harris, MD, Memorial Award in recognition for his outstanding achievements in the medical field and dedication to quality health care for underserved patients. The award, along with a $5,000 check donated to Dr. Briggs’ chosen charity, Refugee Hope Partners in Raleigh, was announced October 10th at the North Carolina Medical Society Dinner in Greensboro.

Dr. Briggs has been practicing medicine for over thirty-five years and currently serves as the Medical Director of NeighborHealth Center in Raleigh, a faith based, Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) he helped start in 2018, whose mission is “to serve Christ by loving our neighbors through excellent, compassionate, and accessible health care.” 

In 1995, Dr. Briggs moved to southwest China with his wife and children, starting a village doctor program and a walk-in clinic while working in a school for disabled adults. From 1998-2018, he trained village doctors from the Chinese countryside, seeing patients from poor villages, and taking part in various public health efforts to control the spread of infectious disease, while simultaneously working to put an end to ostracism of the sick and disabled in mainstream Chinese society. Dr. Briggs’ vision is to provide medical care that focuses on caring for individuals, families, and communities in a way that integrates all aspects of health, including societal health, and his intent is to combine health restoration, illness prevention, and preservation of personal dignity and autonomy while helping patients learn how to be more involved with their own health. 

“Dr. Briggs and his coworkers have shaped NeighborHealth into a life changing organization for so many underprivileged and uninsured patients in Wake County,” Daniel Liparelli, Harris Award nominator, stated. 

“Dr. Briggs comes to work in the dark and drives home in the dark, devoting most of his spare time and weekends to his patients at NeighborHealth.” One clinic patient noted, “He is, without question, the best doctor I have ever had. From the very first appointment, it was clear that he genuinely cares for his patients – not just as medical cases, but as people.” 

Dr. Briggs received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and completed a family medicine residency program at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. He also attended Dallas Theological Seminary, where he decided to serve as a doctor in the developing world. He received the 2022 Health Care Leadership Award by the Triangle Business Journal, the 2004 Yunnan Award for Humanitarian Service to the Community (in China), and was named the Webb School of Knoxville’s Alumnus of the Year in 2003.

“Dr. Briggs has represented the very essence of family medicine with his selfless dedication to training, educating, and serving the most vulnerable people within the developing world and by starting a clinic to continue serving our most vulnerable neighbors here at home. His long and impactful career in family medicine both here and abroad is tremendous and inspirational, representing the very spirit of service and compassion that embodies the Harris Award and Constellation Quality Health,” said President and CEO Steven Martin.

Established in 1999, the Harris Memorial Award honors the life and memory of one of its founding members T. Reginald Harris, MD, for his decades of service to the medical community through the North Carolina Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and many other professional, civic, and community activities.