Dr. David Rábago is a board-certified family physician with an active continuity practice at Penn State Health Medical Group - Fishburn Road in Hershey, Pa. He is interested in health across the life span, with special interest in prevention, shared decision-making, and patient autonomy. His academic work includes assessment of complementary and integrative therapies in areas of concern to his patients, including upper respiratory illness and chronic pain (see below).

Dr. Rábago is an active educator and mentor. He began professional life as a middle- and high-school teacher in Milwaukee and Chicago in the U.S. After a nine-year teaching career, he transitioned to medicine, then academic medicine. He has taught clinical and research-related topics at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including medical school, residency, and post-doctoral levels. He is the co-director of a medical pre-doctoral research fellowship and director of a post-doctoral primary care research training fellowship.

As the Vice Chair of Faculty Development in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, he helps faculty, learners and staff develop intentional career plans for short and long-term time horizons, while working to the highest level of their training and interests. Among his high-level educational goals is the enhancement of interdisciplinary work environments supporting collaboration between clinical, research and education missions of academic medicine.

Dr. Rábago's research has focused on the assessment of complementary and integrative medical therapies for conditions with significant impact on patients and society, including therapies for upper respiratory illness and chronic pain. His work is directly relevant to the more general concerns of antibiotic resistance and stewardship, and opioid and other medication overuse. He has had ongoing funding for 25 years; projects have spanned the translational research spectrum and are typically inter-disciplinary and collaborative (h-Index 34; Scopus 4 November, 2025).

Regarding upper respiration illness, his work suggests that saline nasal irrigation, originally part of the Ayurvedic medical tradition, relieves chronic sinus symptoms and may prevent progression of upper respiratory disease, potentially focusing the use of antibiotics. Active roles include Penn State site principal investigator of the PCORI-funded NOSES study, which is assessing therapy for acute sinusitis.

A second area of research is the assessment of manual therapies for chronic pain, including a non-opioid injection technique called prolotherapy dating from the early 20th century. Dr. Rábago's work includes seminal studies of prolotherapy for knee osteoarthritis and tennis elbow suggesting safety, efficacy, and effectiveness. He is an active collaborator with colleagues in the United States and internationally. Current collaborations include studies assessing prolotherapy for low back pain, ankle laxity, and the underlying mechanism of action of prolotherapy.

Other interests include Climate, Health and Environmental Sustainability. He is an active father, husband, and community member.

An open-access conversation between David Rábago and Domhnall MacAuley, MD, can be found at Medics Voices.

Member, North American Primary Care Research Group, 2002 to present

Member, American Academy of Family Physicians, 1997 to present

Diplomate, American Board of Family Medicine