About the Chapter

Dr. Eric Larson selected for advancement to Mastership

Eric Larson, MD, MACP, was officially recognized with ACP Mastership during the 2022 Internal Medicine Meeting. Masterships are awarded because of “personal character, positions of honor, contributions towards furthering the purposes of the ACP, eminence in practice or in medical research, or other attainments in science or in the art of medicine.” Dr. Eric A. Larson is a Professor of Internal Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine. He graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine in 1996. After pursuing a year of residency training in the USD Pathology Department, Dr. Larson went on to complete his residency at the USD Department of Internal Medicine.  He has held numerous leadership positions in medical education, serving as an administrator of the outpatient IM resident clinic for two decades, and as the Transitional Year Residency Program Director at USD from 2014-2022. In 2019, Dr. Larson advanced to the rank of Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at USD, and in 2022 became the Department Chair.

His research interests include quantifying the impact of gene-based drug dosing on clinical outcome for a variety of commonly used medications (examples include cholesterol lowering medications, anti-platelet agents, and opioid analgesics).

Dr. Larson maintains a busy half time practice of general internal medicine patients where he routinely teaches students an residents in the clinic.

Dr. Tim Ridgway selected for advancement to Mastership

Tim Ridgway, MD, FACP, FASGE, was officially recognized with ACP Mastership during the 2022 Internal Medicine Meeting. Masterships are awarded because of “personal character, positions of honor, contributions towards furthering the purposes of the ACP, eminence in practice or in medical research, or other attainments in science or in the art of medicine.” Dr. Tim Ridgway is the 15th Dean of the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and the Vice President for Health Affairs. He received his BA degree from Augustana College and MD degree from the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. After doing a transitional residency at McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he completed his internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Ridgway is a Fellow of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and the American College of Physicians, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the SDSMA Presidential Award, the USD Sanford School of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, the Augustana Alumni Achievement Award, and the Teacher of the Year Award by the American College of Physicians. His service highlights include President of the South Dakota State Medical Association and Councilor of the Alpha Omega Alpha-South Dakota chapter. In 2015 he was named the Dr. Charley F. and Elizabeth Gutch Chair in Medicine. He has been a faculty member of the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine since 1997.