UCSD Again Tops San Diego ‘Top Doctor’ List

80 UCSD Physicians Named Best Doctors in the Region

August 26, 2009

By Kim Edwards

UC San Diego Medical Center has once again excelled in the “Physicians of Exceptional Excellence” survey, which will appear in the October issue of San Diego Magazine.

Eighty University of California, San Diego physicians in 30 specialties were rated the best doctors in the region by their peers, and more than any other health care system or medical group in San Diego County. UCSD has consistently had more physicians on the top doctors list than any other medical group and the number of UCSD physicians that are named the best in San Diego continues to grow every year.

Selections for the 2009 top doctors list were made from practitioners in San Diego County. To receive a vote, a San Diego County Medical Society member is asked to vote for those board-certified doctors who practice in San Diego County to whom they would refer their patients and family members. The member is allowed to vote across specialties.

Five of the UCSD physicians rated as the best in the region are in the departments of Psychiatry and Urology, which were recently ranked among the nation’s best in those specialties by U.S. News & World Report. Additionally, five other UCSD physicians were named as best doctors in more than one specialty (denoted in the list below by *).

“We are very proud to see the excellence of our physicians endorsed by our peers in the community,” said David Brenner, MD, vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at UC San Diego. “As the only top-ranked academic medical center in San Diego, we strive to serve the community with the best physicians providing state-of-the-art health care and the very best care to our patients. It’s gratifying to see our peers believe we are achieving our goals.”

UC San Diego Health Sciences encompasses the School of Medicine, the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the UC San Diego Medical Group, and UC San Diego Medical Center – the system of patient services provided at Hillcrest, Thornton Hospital, La Jolla, the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, the UCSD Shiley Eye Center, and other primary and specialty practices located throughout San Diego. As a top-tier academic medical center, its role is to provide leadership in improving health through research, education and patient care.

The San Diego Magazine listing includes UCSD physicians who practice at Rady Children’s Hospital and Health Center and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

The 80 UCSD physicians named in the 2009 “Physicians of Exceptional Excellence” survey are:

Cardiac Electrophysiology
Gregory Kent Feld, MD

Cardiovascular Disease
Daniel G. Blanchard, MD, FACC
Ehtisham (Shami) Mahmud, MD, FACC

Critical Care Medicine
Peter F. Fedullo, MD*

Emergency Medicine
Theodore C. Chan, MD
Richard F. Clark, MD
James V. Dunford, Jr., MD
David A. Guss, MD
Christian M. Sloane, MD
Gary M. Vilke, MD

Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Steven Victor Edelman, MD

Family Medicine
David Emil Joseph Bazzo, MD*
Ellen L. Beck, MD
Cecilia Gutierrez, MD
Gene A. Kallenberg, MD
William A. Norcross, MD
Kenneth Samuel Taylor, MD

Gastroenterology
Thomas John Savides, MD

Internal Medicine
Jennifer  Blanchard, MD
Jason Bronner, MD
Lori A. Brown, MD
Lynette C. Cederquist, MD
Paul N. Gamble, MD
Eduardo L. Grunvald, MD
Shawn Harrity, MD
Karen L. Herbst, MD
Tony P. Lopez, MD
William Christopher Mathews, MD
Gregory A. Maynard, MD
Unna McPherson-Albers, MD
Gita Mehta, MD, FACP
Joe Wesley Ramsdell, MD
Armelia Sani, MD
Kenton Smitherman, MD
Pearl Yu, MD

Maternal and Fetal Medicine
Thomas F. Kelly, MD*

Neonatal Medicine
Frank L. Mannino, MD

Neurology
Jody Corey-Bloom, MD, PhD
Sean J. Evans, MD

Neuroradiology
John R. Hesselink, MD

Neurosurgery
John F. Alksne, MD

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Homer G. Chin, MD
Thomas F. Kelly, MD*
Christine B. Miller, MD
Thomas R. Moore, MD
Charles W. Nager, MD
Steven C. Plaxe, MD

Oncology
Barbara A. Parker, MD
Erin G. Reid, MD

Ophthalmology
Michael H. Goldbaum, MD
David B. Granet, MD, FACS, FAAP, FAAO
Don O. Kikkawa, MD
Leah Levi, MD
David J. Schanzlin, MD
Robert N. Weinreb, MD

Orthopaedic Surgery
Reid Allen Abrams, MD
Scott Taber Ball, MD
Steven Robert Garfin, MD

Otolaryngology
Robert A. Weisman, MD, FACS

Pain Medicine
Farshad M. Ahadian, MD
Mark Steven Wallace, MD
William Wilson, MD

Pathology
Lawrence A. Hansen, MD
Noel Weidner, MD

Pediatrics
Martin T. Stein, MD

Plastic Surgery
Anne Marie Wallace, MD*

Psychiatry
Kaimana Scott MacDonald, MD
Terry A. Schwartz, MD
Sidney Zisook, MD

Pulmonary Disease
William R. Auger, MD
Antonino Catanzaro, MD
Peter F. Fedullo, MD*

Radiology
Mini Nutan Pathria, MD

Sports Medicine
David Emil Joseph Bazzo, MD*

Surgery
Niren Angle, MD, RVT, FACS *
Michael Bouvet, MD
David W. Easter, MD, FACS
Andrew M. Lowy, MD, FACS
Sonia L. Ramamoorthy, MD
Mark Adams Talamini, MD
Anne Marie Wallace, MD*

Surgical Critical Care
Bruce Potenza, MD

Urology
Michael E. Albo, MD
Christopher Joseph Kane, MD

Vascular Surgery
Niren Angle, MD, RVT, FACS*

Media Contact: Kim Edwards, 619-543-6163, kedwards@ucsd.edu