Gary Chimes, MD, PhD
Why are you a committed member of the team at Lake Washington Sports & Spine?
In my opinion, Lake Washington Sports & Spine has created the perfect environment for me to deliver simple and effective care for patients that want to remain physically active. I left academic medicine because that ecosystem created too much complexity and structural conflicts that lead to poor prioritization. LWSS enables me to narrowly focus on a niche where I excel, which ultimately results in consistently great care and patient outcomes. Everyone at LWSS is committed to simplicity and excellence!
What is your super-power and contribution to the team?
I am great at “bullshit detection.” Diagnosing what’s really going with a patient requires the ability to quickly filter through a lot of data and see which data points are relevant, and then focusing in on the relevant data points. In other words, my super-power comes from clouding out noise and extraneous information. As it relates to the team, they say that I best contribute by keeping everyone on task as it relates to our mission focus and avoiding drift into areas outside of our core excellence.
Why do you like working at Lake Washington Sports & Spine?
Everyone contributes to our healthy and fun working environment. Delivering the best possible patient experience requires a team of highly competent and committed individuals. We all stay true to our mission of “Keeping People Active.” Each of us on the team is committed to a staying active and maintaining an active lifestyle. We tend to attract people, both employees and patients, who highly value physical activity and achieving a healthy physical condition. Because of this core value, we all share common goals!
Tell us briefly about your professional background?
I spent 5 years at the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the Director of Musculoskeletal Sports & Spine Fellowship. Prior to that, I was Director of the spine clinic at the University of Arkansas. Preceding this, I did a fellowship at Northwestern University in Sports & Spine Rehabilitation. I earned my PhD in anatomy and MD at Stony Brook University and undergrad at University of Wisconsin.
Tell us about your family and what you like to do for physical activity?
I grew up in central New Jersey, where my late father was an accountant and my mother was a computer programmer. My mom still lives in central New Jersey, near my twin sister Jill (who lives in Delaware) and my older brother Mike (who lives outside Philadelphia). We are a swimming family, and we all swam competitively starting at age 7 (until I transitioned to triathlons in college).
I am now married to my wife Lizzie, who is an architectural space planner. We have a young son named James, and a Great Pyrenees-mix dog named Bucky who moved with me from Pittsburgh in 2013.
My main activities are working out in my home gym during the week (typically a mix of hitting a heavy bag, calisthenics with kettle bells and body weight supported exercises, and using an elliptical machine), wrestling with my son, cycling when I can, and hiking the local trails with Bucky.
What is your favorite non-profit organization or cause and WHY?
I like to support Rails-to-Trails, which helps convert unused railways into a community asset that is used for hiking and cycling; two forms of exercise that have helped me on a personal level. The local non-profit organization I support is SODA, which is an acronym for Serve Our Dog Areas. Their mission is to support off-leash dog parks; Bucky and I are regular users of these parks. We also support NAMI, which supports mental health services. Politically, we give to the Heterodox Academy, which supports viewpoint diversity and is headed by my roommate from graduate school. In addition to these four charities, we analyze data every year to make sure we are contributing to other strong charities that support effective altruism.
In my opinion, Lake Washington Sports & Spine has created the perfect environment for me to deliver simple and effective care for patients that want to remain physically active. I left academic medicine because that ecosystem created too much complexity and structural conflicts that lead to poor prioritization. LWSS enables me to narrowly focus on a niche where I excel, which ultimately results in consistently great care and patient outcomes. Everyone at LWSS is committed to simplicity and excellence!
What is your super-power and contribution to the team?
I am great at “bullshit detection.” Diagnosing what’s really going with a patient requires the ability to quickly filter through a lot of data and see which data points are relevant, and then focusing in on the relevant data points. In other words, my super-power comes from clouding out noise and extraneous information. As it relates to the team, they say that I best contribute by keeping everyone on task as it relates to our mission focus and avoiding drift into areas outside of our core excellence.
Why do you like working at Lake Washington Sports & Spine?
Everyone contributes to our healthy and fun working environment. Delivering the best possible patient experience requires a team of highly competent and committed individuals. We all stay true to our mission of “Keeping People Active.” Each of us on the team is committed to a staying active and maintaining an active lifestyle. We tend to attract people, both employees and patients, who highly value physical activity and achieving a healthy physical condition. Because of this core value, we all share common goals!
Tell us briefly about your professional background?
I spent 5 years at the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the Director of Musculoskeletal Sports & Spine Fellowship. Prior to that, I was Director of the spine clinic at the University of Arkansas. Preceding this, I did a fellowship at Northwestern University in Sports & Spine Rehabilitation. I earned my PhD in anatomy and MD at Stony Brook University and undergrad at University of Wisconsin.
Tell us about your family and what you like to do for physical activity?
I grew up in central New Jersey, where my late father was an accountant and my mother was a computer programmer. My mom still lives in central New Jersey, near my twin sister Jill (who lives in Delaware) and my older brother Mike (who lives outside Philadelphia). We are a swimming family, and we all swam competitively starting at age 7 (until I transitioned to triathlons in college).
I am now married to my wife Lizzie, who is an architectural space planner. We have a young son named James, and a Great Pyrenees-mix dog named Bucky who moved with me from Pittsburgh in 2013.
My main activities are working out in my home gym during the week (typically a mix of hitting a heavy bag, calisthenics with kettle bells and body weight supported exercises, and using an elliptical machine), wrestling with my son, cycling when I can, and hiking the local trails with Bucky.
What is your favorite non-profit organization or cause and WHY?
I like to support Rails-to-Trails, which helps convert unused railways into a community asset that is used for hiking and cycling; two forms of exercise that have helped me on a personal level. The local non-profit organization I support is SODA, which is an acronym for Serve Our Dog Areas. Their mission is to support off-leash dog parks; Bucky and I are regular users of these parks. We also support NAMI, which supports mental health services. Politically, we give to the Heterodox Academy, which supports viewpoint diversity and is headed by my roommate from graduate school. In addition to these four charities, we analyze data every year to make sure we are contributing to other strong charities that support effective altruism.