Dr. Richard Honsinger, center, and his staff gather for a 50th anniversary celebration photo Wednesday morning in front of Los Alamos Care Clinic at Los Alamos Medical Center. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.comLos Alamos Care Clinic is celebrating 50 years in practice to the local community.
Dr. Richard Honsinger opened the practice Aug. 18, 1969 in Los Alamos Medical Center. He now has a staff of 35 professionals who provide services at the multi-specialty clinic at 3917 West Road, Suite 150, which offers primary care, allergy and asthma, dermatology and rheumatology. Physicians in his clinic include Dr. B. Michael Jackson, Dr. Elisa Lange, Dr. Monica Snowden, Dr. Lori Whitley and Dr. James Ziomek.
When Dr. Honsinger first arrived in Los Alamos he said LAMC was still like a military hospital. Patient records were sent by tube to the various offices. Eventually the directive came down that everyone needed to upgrade their record keeping system for patient privacy. Dr. Robert Thomsen told Dr. Honsinger he really didn’t want to do all that and would rather join Los Alamos Care Clinic. He did so and became an owner, which he remains today even though he has now retired.
Dr. Honsinger and his wife Marian were married for 56 years. She died three years ago. He recalled a housing shortage when they first moved to town, so they had to wait for a house to become available to purchase in White Rock. The day they got the house they turned on their black and white TV and watched a man land on the moon … all the kids sat on the floor because there was no furniture, he said.
“The main reason we came here was successful – to raise our five children and they’ve all done well and I’m proud of them,” Dr. Honsinger said.
The Honsinger’s children include Charles, a lawyer in Boise, Idaho; Joyce, a nurse at LAMC; Rick, a school superintendent in Williams, Ariz.; Patrick, a family physician in Ashland, Ore. and Kerry, an architect in southern Utah.
“They’ve blessed me with 12 grandchildren,” Dr. Honsinger said.
While medicine is clearly his hobby, Dr. Honsinger said that he also enjoys the outdoors. He takes his grandchildren on rafting trips and in June four of his five children joined him on a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon.
“I’m glad we picked Los Alamos as a place to live … I’ve achieved everything I wanted to … when you become an old doctor, you have old patients and your old patients they become old friends.”
Dr. Honsinger is Board-certified and recertified in Internal Medicine and Allergy/Immunology. He is an honor graduate of Washington State University and the University Of Washington School Of Medicine where he received Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha honors. His postdoctoral training was at the University of North Carolina and the University of Washington. He has been active in research, teaching and lecturing and is author of many medical articles and co-editor of the Handbook of Drug Allergy.
Dr. Honsinger is a clinical professor at the University Of New Mexico School Of Medicine. He is active in community affairs and served 20 years on the advisory board for UNM-Los Alamos.
He is medical co-director of the respiratory therapy program at Santa Fe Community College. He received the Laureate Award as the outstanding internist from the New Mexico Chapter of the American College of Physicians. He also received national leadership awards from both the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Dr. Honsinger served three terms as chief of staff at Los Alamos Medical Center. He has been named Master of the American College of Physicians and is listed in both Internal Medicine and Allergy/Immunology in Best Doctors of America. He serves as a consultant to the Food and Drug Administration, is vice chair of The Council of Subspecialty Societies, and the past president of the Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. He also serves on editorial boards or review boards of the four major US allergy/immunology research journals.
“I could have gone somewhere else and made a lot more money, Dr. Honsinger said with a big smile, but I had more fun here.”
Along with Dr. Honsinger and Dr. B. Michael Jackson, Dr. Elisa Lange, Dr. Monica Snowden, Dr. Lori Whitley and Dr. James Ziomek, the Los Alamos Medical Care Clinic team includes:
