A Message from the Director
Welcome, Residency Candidates
The technological revolution of healthcare is accelerating, providing unprecedented tools for patient communication, access, monitoring, diagnosis and treatment. We intend to harness and explore these advanced tools while preserving the connection, compassion, and critical thinking that have always been at the heart of primary care practice.
Glaring healthcare disparities that are seen across communities may seem unsolvable, but fortunately, they are not. They are waiting for creative, caring healthcare teams led by curious physician leaders to tackle the social determinants of health, advocate for change, and model the habits and character needed to lead change.
As a new program, the story of Methodist Family Residency is still being written. I am excited to join fellow faculty, administrative leaders, and caring staff to take you from medical school graduation to practicing family physicians who improve the communities you serve.
James Schindler, MD, MPH
Program Director
Methodist Medical Center at Oak Ridge Family Medicine Residency
About Dr. Schindler
James Schindler, MD, MPH, grew up in a small North Dakota town and attended the University of North Dakota School of Medicine for basic sciences. He earned his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. After a residency in northern California, he attended the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receiving a master’s degree in Public Health in maternal and child health.
Dr. Schindler served as medical director for the Robert Wood Johnson Healthcare for the Homeless program in Denver and the Puyallup Tribe in Tacoma, Washington, before returning to Houston to direct the Division of Urban Family Medicine for UT-Houston School of Medicine. He championed efforts to place family practice residents and faculty throughout underserved communities in Houston and directed an interdisciplinary Primary Care fellowship for the UT Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Schindler then returned to Baylor as vice chairman of clinical affairs for the Department of Family and Community Medicine, replicating the UT-Houston program. He served as chief of service for Ben Taub Hospital and interim residency director during that time. He moved to East Tennessee to raise children and practice primary care in Morristown, Tennessee, before being named founding program director for the MMC Family Medicine Residency.
Visit our video library to hear from Dr. Schindler about what he is looking for in a candidate, why he chose family medicine, and more.