The Family Doctor

Photography by James Moore

Dr. Ryan Vaisler, a family medicine specialist at Ozarks Healthcare, juggles an array of responsibilities while keeping his passion for patient care and medical education at the forefront.

In an era when medicine is trending toward specialty care, Dr. Ryan Vaisler stands out as a notable exception. Dr. Vaisler is an American throwback ― albeit one born and raised in Vancouver, Canada ― in the myriad responsibilities he fulfills at Ozarks Healthcare. 

A family practitioner by training, he also wears the hats of medical director for hospice, primary care consultant for behavioral health and works as a hospitalist from time to time in addition to his primary care practice. He works as a family medicine specialist at Ozarks Healthcare Family Medicine, and also works in the Ozarks Healthcare walk-in clinic. As if all that weren’t enough, he also is an associate professor at the University of Missouri medical school.

Far from feeling overloaded by this imposing schedule, Dr. Vaisler insists he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The wonderful thing about being here in West Plains and working in a smaller hospital like Ozarks Healthcare is that it affords me opportunities that you may not have in a larger medical center,” he said. 

Dr. Vaisler, who has been with the hospital since 2022, said being able to work in the hospital helps him stay on the leading edge of medical and treatment protocols, skills that could otherwise grow thin on a strict diet of clinical work. 

“My residency training was mainly a hospital-based program,” he said. "As a result, I spent a lot of time at the hospital and loved the complexity and diversity of patients there. That experience helped me understand how I could effectively treat some cases in a clinical setting versus sending them to the emergency room or offloading them to a specialist.

“More importantly, it keeps my skills up to date. You’re constantly having to learn new procedures and medications and apply them to patients in a clinical setting and you really have to be up on these new guidelines. Working as a hospitalist reinforces my knowledge and keeps my skills intact.”

After earning his medical degree from St. Matthew's University School of Medicine in the Cayman Islands, Dr. Vaisler completed his residency at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. While in medical school, he met his future wife, Dr. Karen Johal, now a pediatrician who is also on staff at Ozarks Healthcare.

Dr. Vaisler said it’s helpful to have a life partner who understands the stress of medicine and who can relate to what a bad day on the job as a physician really means. 

“It is very nice to have someone who understands both the emotional and the intellectual stressors that you go through,” he said. “Most people don’t really understand the day-to-day of a physician, just like I wouldn’t understand the day-to-day of an engineer. It’s not that we lean on each other very often for that but in those moments, having someone you can go to who understands is important.”

The couple spends much of their free time with their infant daughter and makes time to get outside and exercise when they can. They also like to travel and are always up for weekend adventures be it in area city centers or taking advantage of the great outdoors.