Shannon Connolly, MD, FAAFP, DABFP

Dr. Shannon Connolly is a board-certified family physician and co-founder of Open Arms Primary Care in Orange. She built her approach around genuinely understanding each patient's life and priorities, so that care decisions get made together rather than handed down.

Building an inclusive, affirming, never-shaming space has been a priority for her, welcoming LGBTQ+ patients, neurodiverse patients, undocumented patients, people living in larger bodies, trauma survivors, and anyone who has felt unseen in healthcare before. She is also active in physician leadership and advocacy at the state and national level, working to advance health equity and improve the healthcare system, and in 2025 the California Academy of Family Physicians named her Family Physician of the Year.

Outside the clinic, she likes trying new foods, hiking with her dog Sadie, tinkering with her five aquariums, and rescuing animals.