On at least two occasions, pausing for a tennis match and a couple of beers ultimately landed John Kingsley, MD, in another state. What was supposed to be a short social visit to Oregon in the late 1970s turned into a 14-year stay and a successful surgery practice in the Northwest. Practically the same thing happened in 1992, when he traveled South for some playing time with his doubles partner from his Navy days and wound up moving to Alabama.

"I went for a week to rest, and by the end of the week, I was being recruited to move my practice to Alexander City," he said. "I stayed for five years and had a very busy practice there."

In 1997, Kingsley moved to Birmingham to direct the vascular surgery program at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. Later, it was on to Brookwood Medical Center where he made the transition from artery and lung surgery to vein work. He is now the only board-certified surgeon in Birmingham whose practice focuses solely on phlebology, or treatment of disorders of the veins.

In 2003, Kingsley established the Alabama Vascular & Vein Center, located on the mezzanine level of the upscale Vestavia Hills City Center. Procedures performed there include the diagnosis and treatment of all manner of vein disorder problems, from cosmetic spider veins to chronic venous stasis ulcers, the most common ulcers seen in wound care centers. And treatment is state-of-the-art. Kingsley, in fact, helped develop some of the modern endovenous methods used today.

"It's all done with ultrasound, lasers, and a new radio-frequency catheter, and our procedures are quite painless," he explained. "We rarely make incisions, and patients can usually go back to work in two to three days, average."

Due to the demand for the services offered at the vein center, the facility was expanded in 2006 and a general surgeon, Dr. James Isobe, was added to the practice. A third surgeon, Dr. Jean Gillon, will be coming from San Francisco to join the practice this summer.

"It had grown to the point where I had to either shut it down or let it grow, so I let it grow," he said. "We're told we have one of the most popular vein centers in the U.S. in terms of number of patients treated and operations performed. We've been able to put together a very nice program for our patients."

But Kingsley has another interest in the Vestavia City Center as well. He now owns Nonna's Restaurant (formerly, Nonna Rose), located one floor below the clinic.

"I would go there in the evening quite regularly, and it closed," he said. "Not long after that, the chef, bar manager and floor manager came to see me to ask if I was interested in buying it and letting them reopen it and run it."

So for the next six months, the foursome planned and remodeled, and the restaurant was again open for business in September 2005.

"It's a very, very pleasant place, and the food is phenomenal," Kingsley said. "It doesn't have the notoriety of some of the restaurants downtown, but it's probably one of the best around. Everybody loves it, and it's gaining ground by the month."

And if Kingsley has learned nothing else from being in the restaurant business, he's learned that he likes it well enough to get involved in a second one. He is now the only investor in the new Icon Restaurant, which recently opened in the remodeled Tutwiler Hotel.

"I work with the two principle owners of Restaurant G, and we moved the business to the Tutwiler and changed the name to Icon," he explained. "The restaurant just recently opened, and is already a big event and popular restaurant and bar for downtown Birmingham."

A native of Pensacola, Florida, Kingsley earned undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Florida. He trained in surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, while serving in the Navy.

Licensed to practice in Alabama and Oregon, Kingsley is board-certified in general surgery and vascular surgery. In addition, he successfully completed the examinations for registered vascular technology by the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography.

Kingsley serves as chairman of the board of Vein Associates of America, a public company in the process of developing vein centers across the United States patterned after Alabama Vascular & Vein Center. The program is generating a fair amount of interest on Wall Street as well as among high profile vein specialty doctors.
"Physicians travel to Birmingham from all over the United States and Canada — one has even come from South Africa — to learn the new procedures we perform," said Kingsley. "We have trained nearly 80 doctors to date and a number of physician's assistants."


May 2007