Congratulations to the University of Arizona Department of Medicine physicians—all 21 of them—who made it onto the “2019 Top Doctors in America” list from Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., which was included in Tucson Lifestyle magazine’s annual Top Doctors issue that came out in June.
A June 26 leadership announcement from Chad Whelan, MD, CEO of Banner – University Medicine and an internist with Banner – University Medical Center Tucson, noted that more than 80 Tucson area physicians with the Banner Health academic division and primary clinical partner for the UA College of Medicine – Tucson received the honor this year. Eighty-three physician names were in his email, but four additional physicians affiliated with the DOM are included below (Drs. Robert Aaronson¹, Gerald Goldberg², Kwan Lee and Stephen Thompson⁴).
That’s more than a third of the 247 local physicians on the Tucson “Top Doctors” list.
“This news is especially exciting when we stop and reflect on the work these physicians are doing for not only our community, but the advancement of health care,” Dr. Whelan said. “While doctors save lives, their importance goes far beyond that. Physicians are there for us when we experience pain, question our body, recover from an illness and fight through sickness. 
They’re an important pillar though all stages of life. Thank you to all of our doctors, especially those who earned this prestigious recognition—we are grateful for everything you do.”
Click here or on the image at left to see the Tucson Lifestyle “2019 Top Doctors” article.
Here’s the list (those in bold are DOM or DOM-affiliated physicians):
- Robert Aaronson, MD, Pulmonary Disease¹
- Geoffrey Ahern, MD, Neurology
- Emmanuel Apostol, MD, Pediatric Nephrology
- Veronica Arteaga, MD, Diagnostic Radiology
- Brent Barber, MD, Pediatric Cardiology
- Mary-Jane Barth, MD, Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery
- Beth Bernstein, MD, Psychiatry
- Mindy Black, MD, Otolaryngology
- David Bull, MD, Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery
- Heather Cassell, MD, Allergy & Immunology
- Setsuko Chambers, MD, Gynecologic Oncology
- Eugene Chang, MD, Otolaryngology
- Conrad Clemens, MD, Pediatrics
- Heather Coffman, MD, Otolaryngology
- Elizabeth Connick, MD, Infectious Diseases (chief)
- Bruce Coull, MD, Neurology
- Michael Daines, MD, Allergy & Immunology
- Cori Daines, MD, Pediatric Pulmonology
- Gregory DeSilva, MD, Hand Surgery
- Sean Elliot, MD, Pediatric Infectious Disease
- William Erly, MD, Neuroradiology
- Audrey Heather Erman, MD, Otolaryngology
- Kimberly Fitzpatrick, MD, Diagnostic Radiology
- Mark Friedman, MD, Cardiovascular Disease
- Joel Funk, MD, Urology
- Paul Gee, MD, Geriatric Medicine
- Kimberly Gerhart, MD, Pediatrics
- Dorothy Gilbertson-Dahdal, MD, Diagnostic Radiology
- Gerald N. Goldberg, MD, Dermatology²
- Stephen Goldstein, MD, Otolaryngology/Facial Plastic Surgery
- Victor Gonzalez, MD, Radiation Oncology
- Matthew Gretzer, MD, Urology
- Lynn Gries, MD, Surgery
- Marlon Guerrero, MD, Surgery
- Kenneth Hatch, MD, Gynecologic Oncology
- Charles Hennemeyer, MD, Vascular & Interventional Radiology
- John Heusinkveld, MD, Obstetrics & Gynecology
- William Holm, MD, Pediatric Endocrinology
- Holli Horak, MD, Neurology
- Randy Horwitz, MD, PhD, Allergy & Immunology
- Mathew Hutchinson, MD, Cardiac Electrophysiology
- Julia Indik, MD, PhD, Cardiac Electrophysiology
- Raj Janardhanan, MD, Cardiovascular Disease
- Karl Kern, MD, Interventional Cardiology
- Samuel Kim, MD, Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery
- Scott Klewer, MD, Pediatric Cardiology
- Stephen Klotz, MD, Infectious Diseases
- James Knepler Jr., MD, Pulmonary Disease
- Monica Kraft, MD, Pulmonary Disease
- Wayne Kubal, MD, Neuroradiology
- Narong Kulvatunyou, MD, Surgery
- Phillip Kuo, MD, Diagnostic Radiology
- David Labiner, MD, Neurology
- Daniela Lax, MD, Pediatric Cardiology
- Benjamin Lee, MD, Urology
- Kwan S. Lee, MD, Interventional Cardiology
- Michael Lemole Jr., MD, Neurological Surgery
- Karen Lesser, MD, Maternal & Fetal Medicine
- Scott Lick, MD, Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery
- Kapildeo Lotun, MD, Cardiovascular Disease
- William Marshall Jr., MD, Pediatrics
- James McClenathan, MD, Surgery
- Joseph Miller, MD, Ophthalmology
- Amy Mitchell, MD, Obstetrics & Gynecology
- Wayne Morgan, MD, Pediatric Pulmonology
- Leigh Neumayer, MD, Surgery
- Valentine Nfonsam, MD, Colon & Rectal Surgery
- Tammy Ojo, MD, Pulmonary Disease
- Peter Ott, MD, Cardiac Electrophysiology
- Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, Pulmonary Disease
- Kathryn Reed, MD, Maternal & Fetal Medicine
- Taylor Riall, MD, Surgery
- John Ruth, MD, Orthopedic Surgery
- Ziad Shehab, MD, Pediatric Infectious Disease
- James Sligh Jr., MD, Dermatology
- Baldassarre Stea, MD, Radiation Oncology
- Bruce Stewart, MD, Otolaryngology
- Craig Stump, MD, Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism³
- Mihra Taljanovic, MD, Diagnostic Radiology
- Andrew Tang, MD, Surgery
- Stephen P. Thomson, MD, Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism⁴
- Christian Twiss, MD, Urology
- Richard Wahl, MD, Adolescent Medicine
- Steven Wang, MD, Otolaryngology
- Martin Weinand, MD, Neurological Surgery
- Mark Wheeler, MD, Pediatric Endocrinology
- Wei Zhou, MD, Vascular Surgery
¹ Dr. Aaronson is associate program director of the UA Internal Medicine Residency Program – Tucson Campus for residents training at Tucson Medical Center.
² Dr. Goldberg is a clinical professor of dermatology and pediatrics at the UA College of Medicine and also has a private practice, Pima Dermatology, in Tucson.
³ Dr. Stump was a Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS) physician in Tucson and past UA Endocrinology chief who passed away on May 4.
⁴ Dr. Thomson is endocrinology chief at the SAVAHCS in Tucson and also takes part in physician training with the UA Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Fellowship Program.
Help Pick Next Year's Top Docs
Castle Connolly Medical is a health care, research and information company founded to guide consumers to the country’s top doctors and hospitals.
The company says its physician-led team of researchers follows a rigorous selection methodology to pick top doctors at a regional and national level. Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected and profiled as Castle Connolly Top Doctors.
The online, confidential nomination process — go to https://www.castleconnolly.com/nominations/ — is open to all U.S. licensed physicians able to make nominations in any specialty and in any part of the country.
Congratulations to all our top doctors!
NOTE: The above list is different from the “Best Doctors in America,” a biennial list which is compiled by Teledoc and for which polling finished in December 2018. The 2019-20 Best Doctors list won’t be announced for another several months.
ALSO SEE:
“Twenty UA Department of Medicine Physicians Make Preview List for 2019 ‘Top Doctors’” | Posted Feb. 21, 2019
“UA/Banner ‘Top Doctors’ Listings in Tucson Lifestyle Down in 2018” | Posted Aug. 3, 2018
“Dozens of DOM Faculty Among 140 Banner Physicians to Earn ‘Best Doctor’ Recognition” | Posted Jan. 23, 2018
“DOM Physicians Make Up a Quarter of UA ‘Top Doctors’ in 2017” | Posted July 13, 2017
“‘Top Doctors’ List Preview for July Issue of Tucson Lifestyle includes 25 DOM Faculty” | Posted March 7, 2017
“Tucson Lifestyle ‘Features’ Janardhanan, Yeager among UA Top Doctors in 2016” | Posted June 29, 2016
“2015 Top Docs, AzCIM, SALSA Spotlighted Among AHSC Top News Items of the Week” | Posted: Sept. 4, 2015