Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995 TAG: 9509260028
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
How would you go about finding a "best doctor"?
Most people ask friends and co-workers for recommendations. Stephen Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, authors of "The Best Doctors in America: Southeast Region," took a similar approach to get the list for their 1996-1997 guide. Except they asked doctors about doctors.
The authors and their staff did 7,000 phone interviews and mailed more than 10,000 letters to doctors in the Southeast asking them to rate the abilities of their peers based on this question:
"If a friend or loved one came to you with a medical problem in your field of expertise, and you could not handle their case, to whom would you send them?"
Here are the names, listed by specialty, of the Western Virginia physicians who were mentioned by colleagues:
Anesthesiology, Dr. James Kistner, Roanoke; cardiovascular disease, Dr. Thomas Nygaard of Lynchburg; dermatology, Dr. Gary Gross of Salem and Dr. Janet Hickman of Lynchburg; family medicine, Dr. Robert Stockburger of Blacksburg, Drs. Wayne Grayson, C.A. Nottingham and William Ward of Roanoke; infectious diseases, Dr. Boyd Francis of Roanoke and Dr. Robert Brennan of Lynchburg; oncology and hematology, Dr. Stephen Rosenoff of Roanoke; ophthalmology, Dr. Kenneth Tuck of Roanoke; otolaryngology, Dr. Ted Avner (sinus and nasal surgery) of Roanoke; pediatrics, Dr. Douglas Pierce of Roanoke and Dr. Luther Beazley III of Salem; rheumatology, Drs. Chris Alexander and Gerald W. Roller of Roanoke and Dr. Jeffery Wilson of Lynchburg; surgery, Dr. Clinton Cavett of Roanoke (pediatric surgery).
The listing for the entire state includes 493 doctors, who represent 2.1 percent of the physicians licensed in Virginia.
The authors, who for a decade have published "The Best Lawyers in America," got the idea for the doctor guide from Smith's experience with a rare brain tumor. They began working on the book five years ago by askinf interns and residents at major medical centers to nominate doctors known as "best" at caring for patients. They then called those doctors and asked the question about who they would send a friend to. All the nominations went into a data bank, and each of the nominees was asked to vote on the other in his or her area of expertise.
The result is the book listing 6,389 "best" doctors in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia. It is published by Woodward/White Inc. of Aiken, S.C.
For further information, contact the company at (803) 648-0300 or through electronic mail to woodward.whiteintelinet.net. An internet page, http://www.bestdoctors.com also has more information.
Managing MS
"New Directions in the Management of Multiple Sclerosis" is the topic of the Oct. 7 annual meeting of the Blue Ridge Chapter, National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The meeting is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. at the Sheraton Inn on U.S. 29 North in Charlottesville.
The speaker is Dr. Fred Lublin, co-director of the MS Comprehensive Care Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and professor of neurology and associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Jefferson Medical College.
Lublin and his group have been involved in the clinical trials of beta interferon, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993 for certain MS sufferers. His current research, which is with animals, includes the effects of bee venom, relationship of genes to MS and the use of beta interferon for the chronic form of MS.
Lunch will be catered and persons with special dietary needs should call 1-800-451-0373.
by CNB