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Marc Ringel grew up in Chicago, went to college in New Orleans and Madrid, and did his medical training back in Chicago.  He even drove a Chicago Transit Authority bus one summer. Nevertheless, his life led him to serve with the National Health Service Corps as a general practitioner in Yuma, Colorado, a prairie town of 2000 people.  And the die was cast. Marc fell in love with country people, country ways, and rural family practice.

“Science is but one avenue of understanding.”

-Digital Healing:  People, Information, Healthcare, p. 10

Dr. Ringel has been a rural family doctor in Wisconsin and in Colorado ever since, and has been a teacher to medical students, nurse practitioner students, residents and practicing physicians.  

“Why do you crave a person to talk to?  Because if given some latitude, a person can still solve problems that a computer cannot anticipate.  Just as importantly, because a person can, in the space of a few sentences, form an idea of who you are and respond to you.  That interpersonal connection is one of the things that makes us human beings tick.”

-Digital Healing:  People, Information, Healthcare, p. 55

He has written several books and a number of medical articles, as well producing regular columns in the lay press and commentaries on Colorado Public Radio.  

Ringel’s abiding interest in healthcare informatics stems largely from his understanding, acquired firsthand, that information and connection are the keys to the success of any medical practice, especially a rural one.  

His latest book, Digital Healing:  People, Information and Healthcare, was published this year by Taylor&Francis.  

Marc has been sort of retired since last summer.  He has three children and two grandchildren. He lives in Greeley, Colorado.