James K. Rone, MD, FACP, FACE

James K. Rone, MD is a board-certified specialist in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism. He has been in private practice at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic (http:/​/​www.mmclinic.com/​) in Murfreesboro TN since 1998. He is a licensed physician in both Tennessee and South Carolina. He is a native of Columbia SC and earned his BS in biology in 1983, and medical degree in 1987, both from the University of South Carolina, where he was honored with Phi Beta Kappa membership. Dr. Rone completed internal medicine residency at Keesler U.S. Air Force Medical Center in Biloxi MS, and did his endocrinology fellowship at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center in San Antonio TX.

He served 11 years continuous active duty with and is honorably discharged from the US Air Force, having risen to the rank of Lt. Colonel (Select), and awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. During those years he served as Chief of Endocrinology and Assistant Chief of Medicine at Keesler Medical Center, instructing and mentoring countless medical students and residents. He held the academic position of clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of South Alabama from 1992-1998. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Endocrinology and holds memberships in The Endocrine Society, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Thyroid Association. His professional publications include papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals and a chapter in the 1st and 2nd editions of the Saunders Manual of Medical Practice.

His first book, The Thyroid Paradox: How to Get the Best Care for Hypothyroidism, was published in 2007. It sprouted from nearly 20 years patient-care experience with thyroid disease as a primary clinical focus. Add to that, Dr. Rone was diagnosed himself with hypothyroidism in the early 1990s, and so approaches the subject from the standpoint of both physician expert and patient. This perspective has infused Dr. Rone, his practice, and writing with the conviction that today’s physician and non-physician providers alike often miss hypothyroidism—and when they do diagnose it, they often under-treat it. This “paradox” (since hypothyroidism is a known common disorder) stems from a laudable, well-intentioned cautious streak in mainstream medicine. Unfortunately patients get underserved and sometimes alienated by this approach, driving some toward less-well-proven, possibly less-safe alternative therapies. Dr. Rone’s passion is to re-shape mainstream thyroid-disease management, without “throwing out the baby with the bathwater.”

Dr. Rone and his wife, Susan—“retired” dago nurse practitioner, now avid equestrienne and gardener, from Upstate New York—share their farm outside Nashville with two cats (Baxter and Xena) and three horses (Spenser, Hawk, and Koretta). He splits his time between an active medical practice and writing, which currently is focused on novel-length mystery fiction.