This week, Drs. Bill Ellis (left) and Raul G. Santos will report on their working group's efforts to help our community live longer, healthier lives.

Dr. Ellis grew up in Camilla and Athens, Ga., before attending medical school at the Medical College of Georgia and completing a residency at the Royal Victoria Hospital at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. After serving in the Navy, he completed a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Vanderbilt University in Nashville before moving his family to Thomasville in 1983 to help Archbold expand its cardiovascular services. Dr. Ellis and his partners established a cardiac and vascular program that is widely respected in the region.  

Since he retired in 2022, Dr. Ellis spends time with family (his wife, three daughters and their husbands, and five grandchildren). He also is active on their farm in Barwick, where he continues to have horses – a favorite throughout his life – and he rides and competes in regional cutting competitions.

Dr. Santos is a nephrologist in Thomasville who is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital and Brooks County Hospital. He received his medical degree from Universidad Central del Este Facultad de Medicina and has been in practice for more than 20 years.

The two are part of the Wellness and Longevity working group. They began working to initiate a county-wide health and wellness program in 2023 to address a lack of an ongoing preventative healthcare movement, evidenced by the fact that Thomas County's longevity statistics show the average lifespan is 2.5 years shorter than the state or national average.