Indianapolis Medical Society

Dr. Anthony W. Mimms is a member of the Indianapolis Medical Society Board of Directors. We offer this brief introduction.

Tell us about your practice?
It is a physical medicine rehabilitation practice. We treat new patients, try and return them to functional independence. Our practice includes sports medicine, movement disorder, joint pains, electromyography, back pain, rotator cuff syndrome and tears, radiculopathy, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, debility, and more pain.

Are you originally from Indianapolis?
Yes.

How did you decide on Indianapolis to setup your practice?
My wife's family and my family are both based out of Indianapolis and we both decided that we wanted to stay in Indianapolis to be close to our family. We like the fact that it is not too big and not too small and it is a clean city.

Tell us about your family?
I have a wife and two daughters, who are nine and five years old. We as a family love to be active and love to get involved in performing arts. We like creating and going to plays. My wife is especially good at acting. My daughters love making up songs and singing. They also love dancing and being involved in extracurricular activities like gymnastics. Our family is musically inclined. All of us sing, and I play the piano and drums. My daughters are learning how to play the piano. We enjoy occasionally going to the symphony, especially Symphony on the Prairie.

What are your leisure interests?
My leisure interests involves playing PlayStation, playing the piano, singing, playing drums, fishing, and reading. I also enjoy watching movies with my wife and my children. I recently picked-up golfing, which I immensely enjoy.

How did you decide to go into medicine and why your specialty?
I decided to go into medicine after attending a career day at my school at Eastwood Middle School when I was in the 8th grade. One of my friend's fathers was a physician and his career peaked my interest.

It was at that time when I thought that I wanted to at least look into the career more. It was not until my junior year at Wabash College that I actually believed that I could get into medical school and become a physician. The reason being is that I was the first in my family to go to college, let alone go to medical school. So even though I was sure of my academics, I just was not sure that I could actually become a physician. The reason I decided to go into physical medicine rehabilitation is that it fits me. I initially thought that I was going to specialize in orthopedics, but when I went into the operating room, I just did not enjoy it as much as I thought I was going to. Therefore, I began to look for a different path. It was then that I came upon physical medicine and rehabilitation through an ambulatory month in medical school. I then went through a physical medicine rehabilitation rotation in my fourth year of medical school and it was like a sigh of relief as if it just suited me. It just seemed to hit me in the face that this would be my career path. It did involve anatomy, which I loved about orthopedics. It also involved sports medicine, neurology, a little bit of rheumatology, and little bit of internal medicine.

Who have been your mentors?
My mentors have been my parents, especially my father. He would say, "son, you have to go to college because when get out here in the world, they will ask you for one or two things: experience or a college degree." He said they would not think twice about closing the door in your face even though it may be 2 below zero. He said, "You have to make sure that you make them want to hire you." As a kid, I was always hanging around my father and going to places with him. Wherever he went, I went. I admired my father, as he was able to do anything and everything! He would quite often go to Central Hardware or Furrows, another hardware store, and we would go in and pick out whatever materials that we needed, take the materials home and fix whatever we needed to do in the house. I even helped my father turn a shed that was connected to our house into a bathroom. I watched my father perform on his job initially as a journeyman machinist. He would then continue to progress and upgrade his knowledge through classes paid for by the company that eventually allowed him to become a mechanical engineer technician. Therefore, I always admired my father's work ethic.

Another one of my mentors was one of my professors at Wabash College, Dr. L. David Polley. He would always tell me, "remember Anthony you came to Wabash, which only the top 20% out of the class could go to, so everybody here is smart and intelligent so if you still happen to get a B or C in a course remember that does not mean that you are incapable or not intelligent, but it only means that you have stiffer competition." He would always push me into performing my best, to continue on, even though sometimes I may get B's in the class. He would encourage me to continue on being a biology major and premed minor.

What gives you the most pride in your life?
The most pride that I feel when I review my life is when I look at my children. I see the work that my wife and I have put into our children. They are excelling in their endeavors. I always believe that the way to success in raising our children would be if my children were able to do better than I have, either in a particular task or in school. I firmly believe that my children will surpass my accomplishments in their lifetime. Whenever I come home and my daughter tells me "hey dad do you know that I know what 5+5+5 is" (she is only five years old) and she can tell me that it is 15, I feel proud. My oldest daughter, who is in the gifted and talented program, is reading at a level and a half or two beyond her grade.

Why is advocacy through the IMS in medicine important to you?
I believe that the IMS gives us a unified and, therefore, a stronger voice. It is the IMS along with ISMA and the AMA that represents all physicians. It is important that we all come together on one accord to voice our opinions and to set forth certain agendas that are important to us as physicians. I believe that we, physicians, need to set examples for the upcoming residents and medical students by being involved in organizations such as the IMS.

Who or how did you get started as an IMS physician?
I got started in IMS through Dr. Marc Duerden. He began telling me about a day in January called Medicine Day where various physicians show up at the State House and show their presence in the courtrooms where legislators are discussing bills that are important to us. In fact, I had a chance to actually speak on a particular bill that was important to me as a physiatrist. I was then contacted by the IMS to join the organization, which I gladly accepted.

What other challenges do you see in helping physicians become involved in the IMS?
The main challenge I see is that physicians do not know what the IMS does or can do for them. Therefore, we need first to be more visible and show examples of how IMS can help and be an advocate for physicians.

As a member of the board of directors what goals do you have for the IMS?
My goal for the IMS is to become more visible and to show physicians what services we can provide.

Tell us something about yourself that most people might find surprising?
Something that I think most people would find surprising about me is that I sing; I am a soloist. I have sung in weddings, funerals, and graduations. I have also spoken as a speaker at such events as well. I enjoy singing quite a bit and creating songs to sing. I do hope to actually own my own record company and label in the future and produce music. I also would like to sing more at events as aforementioned, because I do enjoy singing.