Dr. Bottles has held key leadership positions in academia, biotechnology, and community health systems. At the University of California, San Francisco, University of Iowa, Allegheny University, and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, he served as Tenured Professor, Chair, Medical Director of Managed Care, Corporate Operations Officer for Ambulatory Services, Assistant Dean, residency director, and elected Medical School Executive Committee Member.

Dr. Bottles led strategic planning exercises for the Department of Pathology at the University of Iowa, the clinical enterprise at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center, and the quality programs at the Iowa Health System. Dr. Bottles has facilitated several medical staff/hospital system board retreats centered on physician integration and engagement in evidence-based medicine and quality initiatives; he has also lectured extensively for the Governance Institute on a variety of planning topics.

In biotechnology, Dr. Bottles has been President of the Genomics Repository, Chief Knowledge Officer, and Managing Director. During his tenure at Genomics Collaborative in Cambridge, Massachusetts he raised $36 million in venture capital.

Dr. Bottles served as President of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI) and as Chief Medical Officer of the Iowa Health System, a $2 billion integrated community health system in the Midwest. At the Iowa Health System, Dr. Bottles developed and implemented a Physician Leadership Academy for over 200 physician leaders. He also was heavily involved in Health Information Technology implementation issues. At ICSI he developed a physician leadership academy and also frequently lectured on leadership for St. Thomas University. Dr. Bottles currently serves on a National Quality Forum committee on quality.

Dr. Bottles has contributed articles to the Physician Executive Journal of the American College of the Physician Executives, Trustee Magazine, and the op-ed page of The New York Times; honors include the Rodney T. West Literature Award for the most important medical management article published in 2001, and the UCSF Kaiser Teaching Award.