Jack K. Ringler, MD, Medical Director, Sleep Disorders Center

"Day in and day out, I try to take care of one patient and one problem at a time. I want my patients to feel cared for because I feel very privileged to be invited into their lives."

Born in the Borough of Queens, New York, Dr. Jack Ringler grew up beside his dad's Doctor's Office next door.

"Even though my father and my brother were doctors, I was drawn to the profession because of my love for Social Science, Humanities and Pure Science," states Dr. Ringler. "In Medicine, I include these three branches of human endeavor every day--that's why I became a doctor."

Dr. Ringler graduated with a degree in Biology from Dartmouth College, and earned his Medical Degree from Harvard Medical School. He went on to complete his Internship and Residency at Beth Israel Hospital, followed by two Fellowships: Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Sleep Disorders Medicine at Beth Israel.

After ten years of training in Boston, and leaning toward a life of Academics there, Dr. Ringler and his wife, Lauren Broussal, were traveling Route 7 toward Williamstown, when Lauren suddenly teared up and exclaimed, "I could live here." Moved by his spouse's words, and by the inspiring examples set by Drs. Cordon and Doyle, Dr. Ringler joined the Pulmonary Division at BMC in 1990.

Today, Dr. Ringler is Medical Director of the Sleep Disorders Center, and is a Chairman of the Patient Care Ethics Committee. He serves as a member of the Committee on Publications of the Massachusetts Medical Society, which oversees operations of the New England Journal of Medicine and other journals. He has also been a Reviewer for the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"We love living in the Berkshires, and BMC is a rich medical community in which to work," shares Dr. Ringler. "Day in and day out, I try to take care of one patient and one problem at a time. I want my patients to feel cared for because I feel very privileged to be invited into their lives."

Dr. Ringler enjoys participating in his children's lives-they are avid Alpine ski racers. He also has a love for music and plays jazz piano. One of his highlights was playing "Four Hands" with world-renowned pianist, Peter Serkin, accompanying the Richmond School Chorus, though he admits that Mr. Serkin played three of the "hands"!

Dr. Ringler lives in Richmond with his wife, Lauren Broussal, a retired physician, and currently fiction writer and chairman of the Richmond School Committee. They have three children.