Doctor Broadway
Jason Kindt ’95 provides healthcare on New York City’s theater scene. In June, his work earned his practice a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre.
In the waiting room at the Friedman Health Center on Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, a variety of Broadway musical Playbills are neatly displayed on a shelf. Music from Cabaret plays from a CD player by the door. Every day, Jason Kindt ’95—the co-director of the center—selects a new soundtrack for patients to enjoy.
A self-proclaimed theater nerd (he has saved every Playbill and ticket stub from the 400-plus shows he’s seen), Kindt has been the medical director at Friedman since it opened in March 2017. The center was created by a collaboration between the Entertainment Community Fund and Mount Sinai doctors. It is the only healthcare facility in New York City dedicated to the specific needs of the theater community regardless of health insurance status. Kindt’s patients include the performers and musicians onstage, as well as the people who work behind the scenes.
“The Entertainment Fund’s motto is: ‘When you have, give. When you need, ask,’” Kindt explained. “In this business there are always people in and out of insurance. Thanks to the help and support of the Entertainment Fund, we can care for all of them.”
Kindt and the Friedman Center made history when it became the first medical facility to win a Tony Award.
As the medical director, Kindt—wearing a tie with an image of Broadway legend and former patient, Chita Rivera—accepted the honor and attended the Tony Awards at Lincoln Center on June 16. Prior to his acceptance speech, Kindt was introduced by Annette Bening, chair of the Entertainment Community Fund.
In his speech, Kindt teased that many people asked him if winning the Tony was a dream come true. The answer, he said, was obviously no.
“How could anyone dream of this?” he said. “Who could ever dream that a bunch of doctors, nurses, and medical assistants could receive a Tony Award?”
Growing up in Allentown, Pa., Kindt performed in musicals at Parkland High School, but he never kidded himself that he would ever win a Tony Award.
“I always joked that what I lacked in pitch, I made up for in enthusiasm,” he said with a laugh. “I loved being a part of it, but I knew it wouldn’t be a career opportunity for me.”
When Kindt began his first year at Ursinus College in the fall of 1991, he envisioned becoming a high school biology teacher and theater director. But when it came time to do student teaching, he decided that the career path was not for him. Instead, he applied to medical school and was accepted to the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He graduated in 1999 and did his residency at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Reading, Pa. When he was chief resident there, one of the doctors on his team was Dheeraj Taranath ’95, Kindt’s roommate at Ursinus and in medical school.
“I remember calling Jason on the phone before our freshman year and asking him what kind of music he liked,” said Taranath, who lives in Maryland and is the chief medical officer of Wellpath, a national company headquartered in Nashville. “Jason told me he listened to Broadway musicals, and I was like, ‘What?’’’ Taranath laughed. “I mean, I listened to bands like Pink Floyd, Rush, and the Beastie Boys.”
“But later, when Jason told me he was applying to medical school, I knew he would be an excellent doctor,” Taranath continued. “He has always been the most empathetic person I know—and this is probably one of the most important traits for a doctor to have.”
After his residency, Kindt worked as a traveling doctor, treating underserved populations on American Indian reservations in Arizona, Washington, and Oregon, before settling back down at Reading Health System. At night, Kindt would often drive over 120 miles to New York City to see shows. After being inspired by the musical Pippin, a show about following one’s dreams, he decided to move to New York and work closer to Broadway.
Kindt first worked in family practice at the Manhattan Physicians Group and then in urgent care for Duane Reade before landing his own dream job at the Friedman Center. A fellow doctor at Duane Reade told Kindt about the job opportunity, knowing how perfect he would be for the position.
“I couldn’t believe the job even existed,” Kindt said. “It was like the stars aligning for me.”
Kindt now lives in Hell’s Kitchen near the theater district and calls his apartment his “Corner of the Sky”—a reference to a Pippin song. His office is open until 8 p.m. most weeknights and is also open on Saturdays. The show—as Kindt knows better than most—must always go on. He supports his patients from the audience, too, seeing as many as two musicals a week.
“I go to shows like The Prom, where I have treated most of the cast members,” Kindt said. “I grew very close to that cast so that show will always be near and dear to my heart.”
Kindt knows this passion for Broadway makes him a much better doctor as well.
“It makes all the difference in the care you give,” Kindt said. “You’re going to work harder and do that little extra because you know and love what your patients do.”
And what does Kindt know now that he didn’t know as an Ursinus student?
“A true life lesson for me is that we don’t dream enough to combine our passions. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be one thing or another. It can also be both,” he said.
