Reid Hospital Governing Board
Early impression sparks medical career
Beth Ingram, M.D.
Praise for others
Radiologist and Reid Hospital governing board member Beth Ingram, M.D. claims she "gets by" with a lot of help from her "friends" and family.
A Connersville native, she met her husband, Kyle, through family and the couple married in her second year of medical school.
"I could never have gotten through medical school without him. It was hard work and tiring. But he would encourage me to keep going."
Now, Dr. Ingram's off-work activities revolve around her family. Sports — those in which 11-year-old Michael and Erin, 8, participate and the college-level basketball games at which Kyle officiates — take most of the Ingram family's time and attention.
Liberal in her praise to others for her success, Dr. Ingram also credits her partners.
"I can do what I'm doing now because of my partners. I love working with my partners at Reid. They are supportive, and they love what they do. There are days when I'm tired or burned out, but when you like your partners and you like what you do, everything is so much easier."
When Dr. Beth Ingram was what she describes as "really young,"
she was favorably impressed by her pediatrician, Dr. Robert Warren, and
the fact that "he always seemed to be having fun." Although
that wasn't when she decided to be a doctor, she did decide she wanted
to have a career that was fun. And, she hasn't been disappointed.
"In medicine, there is always something interesting every day if you look for it. It's fun; it's exciting."
She was a junior in college, studying chemistry and had intentions of applying to medical school, but a visit to Reid Hospital locked down the decision.
Dr. Michael Hinshaw (also a Reid governing board member) had performed surgery on her mother, and she asked him if she could "tag along" with him one day. "Everybody at Reid was wonderful," Dr. Ingram recalled. "Dr. Hinshaw let me observe a surgical procedure, the nurses were so nice, and Dr. Short (a former Reid anesthesiologist) even sat and drew pictures to better explain what he was doing. It was fascinating — and fun. I drove back to college that afternoon and thought, ‘No doubt about it; I'm going to medical school'."
Approaching completion of her degree at Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Ingram was leaning toward primary care and was applying for an internal medicine residency match. "I had a rotation in radiology, and I fell in love with it. We got to see a lot of anatomy and disease, and it was very oriented to problem-solving." She then applied for and was accepted into the radiology residency program at I.U. where she also completed a subsequent fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology.
Dr. Ingram came to Reid to practice based on her earlier impressions and also because she knew Drs. Michael Brendle and Frederic Vanbastelaer, with whom she had trained at I.U.
Dr. Ingram joined Reid's governing board in January 2002 and has found she is still trying "to absorb everything."
"The one thing I appreciate is the bright, talented, successful people on this board — people I would not have known except for my appointment as a board member. I can bring my medical background and knowledge to the board, but since I have only lived in Richmond for seven years, I am learning a lot from them."
Noting the project to build The New Reid, Dr. Ingram said: "This is a great time to be on the board. The new hospital will be more patient friendly, convenient and state-of-the-art. Additional space will offer the opportunity for expanded treatment modalities."
Especially exciting to Dr. Ingram, is the immediate prospect of doing open heart surgery at Reid. Trained in interventional radiology, Dr. Ingram offers a supporting role in diagnosis of vascular-related diseases.
"I am really excited about what this program will offer. Before I came here, I realized this was a good, strong medical community. With time, I further realized it really is good by any standard. There is no standing still in medicine. If you don't keep moving ahead, you fall behind. This will keep the medical community thriving and keep Reid progressive."
As a member of the heart surgeon selection committee, she praised Corazon Consultants. "I believe they gave us the guidance and direction we needed. We would have gotten to the same end-point without them, but it would have taken twice the resources, infrastructure and time."
The busy physician also serves as the Radiology Section's representative on the Medical Staff executive committee.
View Dr. Ingram's record in the Reid Hospital Physician Database.
