As the youngest of four kids, John Woods had many role models. He was 10 years younger than his closest sibling, who became a pediatrician, and that gave him a bird’s eye view of what medical school and a career in medicine would demand.

When his parents, who instilled in their children the importance of getting a college degree, also encouraged him to pursue medicine, the McNairy County native followed their advice. Today he is the sole proprietor of a medical clinic in Jackson.

After graduating in 1982 from McNairy Central High School in Selmer, Woods headed to Memphis for college at what is now the University of Memphis, graduating in 1986. Knowing he would pursue a medical career, as his brother had, he majored in biology with a minor in chemistry.

“My brother, Bill, who is a pediatrician with the Jackson Clinic, was ten years older than I was. He entered medical school when I was just eleven years old. I thought at that time that it was something that I wanted to do,” said Woods, who also has two sisters who are older than both he and Bill. “Neither of my folks had gone to college; my dad was a rural mail carrier. Both of my parents had always encouraged and expected us to get a college degree. They also wanted the boys to go to medical school, so I had the desire to pursue medicine for awhile.”

Woods remained in Memphis for medical school, graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1990. He chose internal medicine as his specialty in his third year of medical school due to his medicine clerkship. “One of the attending physicians during my medical clerkship, John Wheat, MD, was a great mentor to me and just a fantastic guy,” said Woods. “I had always known I would choose primary care, figuring I would end up practicing in McNairy County. Dr. Wheat was such a strong attending that he is really the reason I went into internal medicine.” Woods found his mentor through the Internet a few years ago and contacted him via email to thank him for the profound impact he had made on him as a med student.

His internship and his residency in internal medicine were at Baptist Hospital in Nashville where he remained to serve as chief resident for a year. “I chose Nashville for my residency for a couple of reasons,” he said. “The program director at the time, Paul McNabb, was such a strong and dynamic person. Also, my fiancé at the time, Mary Kaye, whom I married while an intern, had family in Middle Tennessee, and we wanted to be close to them.”

In 1994, Woods returned to West Tennessee to join the Jackson Clinic rather than to his hometown of Selmer as he had always thought he would. “Bill was here at the clinic and Jackson was close to home,” said Woods. “My father died while I was in residency so it was important to be closer to my family. And, as it was during the Clinton era, I was not sure what would happen in the healthcare arena. Going to Selmer to open a practice wasn’t what I thought may be a viable option if I wanted to survive.”

After 12 years with the Jackson Clinic, Woods made the decision to go out on his own and became the sole proprietor of his practice, John B. Woods, MD. The board-certified internist specializes in adult healthcare. An important part of his practice is reducing the risk for cardio-vascular disease, which includes the treatment of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and adult diabetes.

“Internal medicine lends itself to treating older patients,” he said. “One of my passions right now is the management of obesity, which leads to so many other things, diabetes, heart problems, etc. Also related to obesity is the presence of sleep apnea, a condition that is under diagnosed and under treated. To help diagnose and treat sleep apnea, I offer patients an in-home machine that can more easily diagnose the condition without them having to go into a sleep study clinic.”

Woods is also investigating a physician-directed weight loss program to offer his patients. “If people can lose the weight, especially when it is in done in a safe and monitored manner,” he explained, “it can reduce or eliminate so many of the problems associated with obesity.”

One other passion of Woods is his family. He and Mary Kaye have three children, 12-year-old twins John Henry and Lydia and 9-year-old Mary Helen. All are home schooled. The family is active in West Jackson Baptist Church and recently went on a mission trip to Costa Rica, the first for all of them. The trip was centered in the capitol city of San Juan. Although the majority of the time in Costa Rica was spent spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the group also staffed a one-day medical clinic.

Woods joined fellow Jackson doctors, Carlton Hayes and Lisa Rogers, in providing medical services to 140 people in the seven hours the medical clinic was open. “We saw coughs and infections and treated them with antibiotics,” he said. “Regardless of what they came for, they all wanted to be seen by an American doctor whether they were really sick or not. At the end of the day, we really did not physically change their environment; they would still be exposed to things such as poor drinking water and mosquitoes after we left. What we did though was give credibility to the missionaries that are on the streets there full time spreading the love of Christ.”

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