Fred David Winter, Jr., MD: a conversation with the editor

F. David Winter, Jr., MD, and William C. Roberts, MD

From the HealthTexas Provider Network (Winter) and the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute, Baylor University Medical Center (Roberts), Dallas, Texas.

Corresponding author: F. David Winter, Jr., MD, 3434 Swiss Avenue, Suite 105, Dallas, Texas 75204.

David Winter was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on February 10, 1950, and grew up mainly in Beaumont, Texas. He graduated from Beaumont High School in 1968 with high honors. He received a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry from Lamar University in Beaumont, also with high honors, and attended the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where he received his medical degree in 1975. Both his medical internship and residency were at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC). After those 3 years of training, he entered private practice on his own in 1978.

David Winter is the founder and president of MedProvider, a division of the HealthTexas Provider Network, and he is on the board of directors and is vice chairman of HealthTexas. Since 1988 he has hosted HealthSource, a weekday medical television news program on WFAA-TV, Channel 8, which is syndicated. He also presents live medical reports on the Midday News on WFAA-TV. He has been the host of Health Gems, which is part of a national syndicated radio insert, Patients Medical Network. Additionally, he has hosted hour shows on Lifetime Medical Television and the Discovery Channel, as well as several videos for Riverstreet Productions. He has received the Marcus Welby Award and the Jules Bergman Award for Excellence in Medical Broadcasting.

From 1983 to 1998, Dr. Winter was team physician of the Dallas Sidekicks, an indoor professional soccer team. He currently is the governor of the Texas Northern Region of the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine. He has been a speaker at a number of meetings on such topics as practice management, time management, medical reporting, sports medicine, men's health, women's health, chronic fatigue syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, aging, the changing medical system in the USA, atherosclerosis and its consequences, cholesterol and its components, osteoporosis, hypertension, stress, and exercise, among others. On more than one occasion, he has been listed among the “Best Doctors in America” and the “Best Doctors in Dallas.” He and his lovely wife, Rene?, have a son and daughter. Dr. Winter is a superb clinician, a leader, a role model, and a good guy. (BUMC Proceedings 2002;15:414-426)