‘Best of Wyoming medicine’ — Statewide professional association recognizes doctor’s dedication
Dr. Mike Jording was recently named 2025 Physician of the Year by the Wyoming Medical Society. Jording is not only a doctor in the community, he is also an extremely active member of the Weston County Historical Society.
When Dr. Michael Jording received a call from his friend Dr. Rob Monger, he didn’t expect to hear that he had won a statewide award, but that is exactly what occurred, and the Wyoming Medical Society shared the news with the rest of the world on July 30 when the organization announced that Jording has been recognized as the 2025 Physician of the Year.
According to a press release from the professional association of physicians, the Physician of the Year award is its highest honor, and it “recognizes exemplary service, dedication to patients, and significant contributions to advancing medicine in Wyoming.”
After studying chemical engineering at University of Wyoming for four years, Jording went to medical school at Creighton University, he told the News Letter Journal. He graduated in 1980 and completed his family medicine residency in Sioux Falls in 1983. Jording practiced medicine in eastern Wyoming for decades — nearly six years in Torrington and 32 in Newcastle, he told the NLJ. The 32 years of clinic work in Newcastle included time at Cedar Hills Family Clinic and Monument Health Clinic, and over the years, he said he delivered babies, covered the emergency room, served nursing home residents, and provided in-patient care.
He was the president of the association from 2006 to 2008, and he has mentored younger doctors and encouraged “a strong sense of community among healthcare professionals,” the release says. Jording also was committed to providing patient-centered care, according to the release, and served as Weston County’s public health officer from 2004 to 2021.
“He is widely respected for his clinical excellence and unwavering commitment to rural health, serving as a trusted medical leader, mentor, and advocate in Newcastle and throughout the state,” the release says.
As a new board member for the association in the early 2000s, Jording suggested that the society should develop a scholarship endowment for medical students, he told the NLJ. The society launched that endowment — the Centennial Scholarship Fund — in 2003, commemorating the society’s 100th anniversary, and Jording helped promote it. Doctors in Wyoming raised more than $50,000 to launch the fund, and since then more than 60 medical students have received a total of nearly $90,000 in scholarships, according to the release.
“Dr. Jording represents the very best of Wyoming medicine,” says Sheila Bush, the association’s executive director, in the release. “He is the kind of physician every community hopes for — steady, skilled, humble, and wholly devoted to the well-being of his patients. His career is a testament to what it means to serve with purpose.”
According to Jording, many physicians in Wyoming have led lives of service, from educating medical students to healing patients, and he believes all physicians in Wyoming have opportunities similar to the ones he has had.
“Many take that opportunity and volunteer, and I think they reap the same rewards that I have,” he said.
As a leader in the association, Jording had helped choose which doctor should receive the award in the past, but it never occurred to him that he should be chosen — or even nominated, he said. He doesn’t see his contributions as standing out, and he said he is humbled by the honor both because he’s proud to be counted among the doctors that have received the award in the past and because there are other physicians who deserve the recognition.
He acknowledged that when he’s been asked to serve in a particular role, such as on the board of trustees of Wyoming Medical Society or as the director of the ambulance service in Newcastle and in Torrington, he’s “always very willing to help.”
Jording said that when leadership roles begin, it’s impossible to know where they will eventually lead, and by taking those roles, he has learned a lot medically, socially and personally about the business, politics and practice of medicine.
“There have been some ups and downs and some of the things that I’ve said yes to and volunteered for, but every one of those has given me an opportunity to look back and recognize that I’ve learned a great deal by participating,” he said.
According to Jording, each opportunity taught him more about being a physician and a good member of the community. He said he’s also been able to develop many friendships through those pursuits, and he doesn’t regret any of the roles he’s had.
Jording retired from clinical practice at the end of 2020. Between then and June 2025, he worked at a company that did exams on behalf of the state of Wyoming for Social Security disability. Now fully retired from clinical care, he is catching up on projects unrelated to medicine and spending more time with his wife and his family.
”It’s an honor to be named Physician of the Year, and I think it represents a culmination of a career in medicine in Wyoming,” he said.
Jording will receive the award in person at the association’s upcoming conference, which will be held Nov. 14 and 15 at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.