Ronald Bruce, MD

Bio

I joined Kaiser Permanente in August, 2005. I decided to work at Kaiser after hearing from friends how much they liked the care they received. It's exciting to work in a place where there are great colleagues dedicated to high quality medicine and teamwork focused on you partnering with us in preventive care. Here you have so many tools and resources to aid in building and maintaining good health. Check out all the things available to you at the patient website. Most recently links for Webcare and Complementary and Alternative Medicine have been added for your convenience.

My wife and I moved to the North Bay in June, 1996, after our daughter had completed high school on the East Coast and was going off to college at Tisch School of Drama at NYU.

I was born in Atlanta and grew up mainly in Gainesville, Georgia, which is about fifty miles northeast of Atlanta. Gainesville is on Lake Lanier, where one can enjoy the incredible beauty of the foothills of the North Georgia mountains, with its trees and waterways.

As the oldest of four brothers and two sisters, I rapidly learned about pediatrics, by changing untold diapers, reading lots of children's stories, and playing sports with my younger siblings.

I attended the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta, where I had many excellent teachers and colleagues. I also met my wife, who is a native San Franciscan, while she and I were both studying at the Medical College of Georgia.

The first part of my career as a physician was as a diagnostic and interventional radiologist. This is the specialty which performs medical imaging studies, such as x-ray films, ultrasound, MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, and interventional techniques.

Several years ago some of my friends asked me to help research homeless health care in the North Bay area. A friend who is a MSW/U.C. Berkeley law school graduate assisted me in gathering this information for a local non-profit organization. During this process I became interested in training in Family Medicine, so I did a three year residency and became board-certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. I wanted to work with people of all ages and especially with whole families, from the newborn to seniors, 104 years of age being the oldest person I've cared for.

My Medical Specialty

More details about my specialty:

Family medicine is a speciality that gives broad training so that one can care for patients of all ages .
The training is broad in scope and allows "the whole patient " to be evaluated .
I chose family medicine so that I can care for people of different ages :newborns to 104 (the oldest person that I have cared for) .
The thing I love about being a doctor is helping people connect with the natural state of being healthy .

My specialty interests and affiliations within my field:

American Board of Family Medicine — Board Certified
American Board of Radiology — Board Certified

Current projects or research:

Learning about nutriton and complementary medicine

Great health resources that I refer to:

www.mcg.edu
www.duke.edu
www.dukehealth.org
www.ucsf.edu
www.stanford.edu
www.mayoclinic.edu

An interesting story from my training:

During my radiology training, I had the opportunity to go meet the 1st cardiologist in Georgia—Dr. Harry Harper, Jr. who trained at Mass General in Boston with Dr. Paul Dudley White (the father of cardiology). Over several years, I was fortunate to be able hear his many wonderful patient-care stories.

Interests

Currently reading:
The Soul Of Rumi by Coleman Barks, Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

My favorite book or author:
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman, Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Great movie:
Himalaya (Great scenery and amazing faces), Monsoon Wedding (great music and a taste of India)

Family & Friends

People in my life:

My wife is the greatest. We share many common interests.

She was born in San Francisco and this is what has made it possible to live in such a beautiful place.

We met while in medical school at the Medical College of Georgia and have enjoyed seeing our children & grandchildren grow.

She is board certified in diagnostic radiology. Writing and the love of words is her passion & forte ( language major before doing premed ). She has been a writer for several years and volunteers teaching English as a 2nd language.

My children and people I care about:

A picture is worth a million words .

I have wonderful children and grandchildren.

An interesting story about my family or friends:

Recently my daughter and her family were in Vermont on vacation. One day while traveling into town, a puppy was in the road and they stopped and took the puppy to the local gas station. The local mail carrier happened to be there. She recognized the puppy and returned it to its owner along with the daily mail.

Photos of my Family & Friends:

my grandchildren — funny

Our last pet was named FOXY, a Shelty, who loved to herd our children when they were younger .

Travel

An adventure I've had:

Travel to the Kerla region of India to learn about Ayruveda ( traditional medicine of India ).

3 months in Australia ... great outdoors scenery,beautiful surf, and the Aussies are easy going .

Visited my son in Japan in DECEMBER, 2007. A Great country with excellent food, beautiful land, and wonderful trains. Yes, Japan also has Starbucks, however, their local competitor—Excelsior—had better coffee!

Favorite place in the world:

California—for the outdoor activities, beautiful sunsets, and the BEAUTY that is always here!

One of my recent trips:

Visited my grandchildren in Manhattan. We had fun going to the park, reading books, eating gelato, and my granddaughter's favorite make-believe game—making chocolate soup.

The food in Manhattan was delicious!

Travel Photos:

Tokyo @ night

A Photo of One of My Favorite Places:

Moonlight, San Francisco