AMA Pride in Profession Awards honor heroes of medicine

From California to Somalia, four physicians practice compassion and commitment to care, qualities that earn them praise.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. March 17, 2003.

With $5,000 from her parents, Wendy S. Ring, MD, MPH, bought an old pickup, hitched it to a trailer and started a mobile medical practice.

Driving along dirt roads, past giant redwoods and around mountainous curves in northern California, the general physician ventured to rural areas and dispensed medical care to the homeless and working poor.

Thirteen years later, Dr. Ring still travels to treat the ills of the underserved, only now she rides in a converted recreational vehicle. Her Mobile Medical Office practice has grown to a staff of 15 with a second physician and a clinic based in Eureka, Calif.

"I never really wanted to be in an office. My primary thought in going into medicine was working with rural, underserved people," said Dr. Ring, 45, who has worked at clinics and treated Navajos in Arizona and the homeless in New Mexico.

"People thought I was crazy, and it's now working, so people don't think I'm crazy."

On March 2, Dr. Ring was honored for her efforts with an AMA Foundation 2003 Pride in the Profession Award. The awards honor physicians who are passionate about caring for their patients and who serve as shining examples in the medical profession.

During a ceremony in Washington, D.C., Dr. Ring was one of four physicians given the award, presented in association with the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative.

The other award winners were: Walter J. Kahn, MD, an eye surgeon in Red Bank, N.J.; Col. John M. Uhorchak, MD, an Army surgeon in West Point, N.Y.; and Michael J. VanRooyen, MD, MPH, an emergency physician in Baltimore.