UVA Doctor throws hat into 5th District ring
Dr. Cameron Webb has entered the 2020 race to represent Virginia’s 5th Congressional district, which includes Rappahannock County. To do so he will have to win Virginia’s Democratic primary, then outperform freshman Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Republican, in the general election.
A general internist in Charlottesville, who also serves as director of Health Policy and Equity at UVA’s School of Medicine, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate students, Webb said his focus will be on improving access to affordable healthcare.
Upon graduating from UVA and getting his medical and law degrees, Webb was tapped by President Obama for a White House Fellowship. He was the only medical doctor on the White House Health Care Team and also worked on Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, where he helped tackle issues in education, workforce development, and criminal justice reform.
“The people have spoken and ensuring access to affordable, quality healthcare should be Washington’s top priority,” he said. “But instead, too many politicians are spending more time trying to prove each other wrong than trying to help the people they have been elected to serve.
“That constant putting politics over patients — that’s what’s wrong . . . . As a doctor, I’ve seen firsthand how inadequate health care hurts families. I’ve seen how health is shaped in spaces well beyond the exam room through issues like employment, education, and even the environment.”
In the coming months, Webb said he will be traveling the district meeting voters and getting to know more about the challenges families are facing.
“As any scientist will tell you, before you can solve a problem you have to start with collecting data. I look forward to visiting with folks all over the district to hear from them what’s working and — more importantly — what isn’t in their lives,” he said.
Webb grew up in Spotsylvania with five siblings. His mother, a public school speech therapist, and father, who is with the Drug Enforcement Administration, taught him to take an active role in his community and serve others — lessons he said he carries with him today.
His wife, Dr. Leigh-Ann Webb, is an emergency room doctor who grew up in Appomattox County. The couple resides in Albemarle County with their two children.