Physicians, academic - National Physician of the Year Awards

I serve on the Medical Advisory Board of the Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctors publication. Each year we publish a 1200-1300 page volume containing a list of more than 3000 of America’s top physicians. We select these physicians through a process of nomination by over 250,000 specialists and through periodic mail, telephone, and email surveys, interviews with leaders of various medical specialties, and leading physicians in medical centers. Finally, we ask our 12 member Medical Advisory Board to rate the candidates for the national physician of the year awards for clinical excellence and life time achievement.

This year the selections are:

For clinical excellence:

1) Delos, M. Cosgrove, MD, Chairman, Board of Governors, CEO, and President, The Cleveland Clinic – Dr. Cosgrove has performed over 20,000 surgical procedures and has become a world-renowned expert in the field of heart valve repair.

2) McCarthy, Joseph, G, MD, Professor of Plastic Surgery, the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, NYU Medical Center. He has pioneered the concept of craniofacial distraction and introduced the concept of infant facial surgery to avoid psychosocial problems during childhood.

3) Patrick C. Walsh, MD, Director of Urology, the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Brady has pioneered the development of “the anatomic approach to radical prostate" which involves nerve-sparing techniques reducing the possibility of impotence and incontinence.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

1) Maria Defivoria-Papadopoulos MD, Director, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Professor of Pediatrics, Physiology, and Obstetrics/Gynecology, In her 50 years of medical practice her steadfast dedication to at-risk newborns has earned her recognition as a leader in the field of neonatal and perinatal medicine.

2) Honorable Nancy G. Brinker, Founder of the Susan G. Koman for the Cure, former U.S. Ambassaror to Hungary, Baker has received numerous accolades for here work, including the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Champions of Excellence Award presented by the Centers of Disease Control, and Ladies Home Journal 100 Most Important Women in the 20th Century.