Dr. Ridley received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota and completed his medical residency at Hines VA in Hines, Illinois before completing a fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Minnesota. He has been in private practice in 1988 and established Saint Paul Rheumatology in 2001.
He knew he wanted to be a medical doctor back when he was still in high school, a desire that was further fueled by a tragic experience within his family.
“Immunology was my favorite subject in high school. Air Force time showed me I did not want to be an administrator. I had a brother in law die of lupus at age 31 and believed he was poorly managed.”
Patient access to care is a high priority for Dr. Ridley. In fact, the reason Saint Paul Rheumatology participates in research is to increase the access to medicines their patients need.
The parts of his job he loves the most are working with his patients, conducting research, and the ever-evolving medications. “(We) started with only gold shots for treatment and now we have so many good options.”
Dr. Ridley’s strives to remain active in research in order to be aware of new patient therapies as they evolve. He is a member of numerous informational groups for psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis and is always looking for aggressive steps that can be taken to get diseases under control.
The quality of his colleagues and staff is what continues to excite him about being a part of the Saint Paul Rheumatology team.
“We have caring, hardworking, and happy staff. We share, we all care about what we do, and our greatest weakness is sometimes caring too much.”
Dr. Ridley hopes to remain active in his field.
“The career never ends. You can always work part time and continue to teach.”