Bridge Family Health | Evanston, IL
Dr. Jeff Panzer
Family Medicine Physician in Evanston, IL
Dr. Jeff Panzer is a board-certified family physician and founder of Bridge Family Health, providing relationship-based primary care for children, adults, and families in Evanston and the surrounding community.
Family Medicine • All Ages • 17+ Years in Practice • Spanish
A Bit About Dr. Jeff
For Dr. Jeff Panzer, family medicine has always been personal. His father was a family physician in northeastern Pennsylvania, and as a child, Jeff sometimes joined him as he made house calls and visited patients in nursing homes and hospitals. Seeing his father care for patients in the context of their lives helped shape Jeff's belief that medicine is at its best when it is deeply personal and built on relationships.
That philosophy has followed him throughout his career. Dr. Jeff loves the breadth of family medicine and the opportunity to care for the whole person rather than a single condition or organ system. As a generalist, he cares for children, adults, older adults, and entire families, helping patients manage everything from everyday health concerns and chronic conditions to more complex diagnostic questions. And when specialty care is needed, he can remain involved and help patients put the pieces together.
Dr. Jeff founded Bridge Family Health to create the kind of primary care relationships he believes patients and physicians deserve. Direct Primary Care gives him the time to understand not only a patient's medical history, but also their values, preferences, family, work, and the circumstances of their life. It also creates room for what he sometimes calls “slow medicine”: the ability to pause, think, stay in touch, and determine the right next step rather than automatically ordering another test, prescribing another medication, or sending a patient somewhere else.
His approach is collaborative and curious. Dr. Jeff is comfortable thinking through complicated problems alongside his patients and being transparent about what he knows and what he still needs to figure out. His goal is for patients to feel cared for as human beings, understand what comes next, and know that their relationship with Bridge does not end when the appointment does.
Education
Medical School: Temple University School of Medicine | Doctor of Medicine, 2006
Family Medicine Residency: Thomas Jefferson University | 2006–2009
Additional Education: Northwestern University MS, Healthcare Quality & Safety, 2015
Pomona College BA, Neuroscience, 2001
Certifications
Board Certifications: American Board of Family Medicine | Board Certified in Family Medicine, 2009–Present
Professional Affiliations: American Academy of Family Physicians & Direct Primary Care Alliance
Languages: English; Spanish (working proficiency including conversational and medical Spanish)
Years in Practice: 17+ years in independent practice following residency
A Longstanding Partnership
Dr. Emma and Dr. Jeff have known each other professionally for more than 15 years, with their paths crossing throughout their careers in family medicine. Before practicing together at Bridge, they worked within the same healthcare organization from 2018 to 2025. That longstanding professional relationship gives them a shared foundation in family medicine and a deep understanding of how each other approaches patient care.