MCG Health System physicians make up almost half of the Augusta-area physicians named to the list of the "Best Doctors® in America" for 2005-2006.

"The men and women named to the Best Doctors list continue to make outstanding contributions to the field of medicine, and our community is fortunate that they are here to provide care for our families and loved ones," said Don Snell, President and CEO of MCG Health, Inc.

The list of physicians in the "Best Doctors in America" is compiled annually through an exhaustive peer review-based evaluation of the medical profession. Best Doctors contacts tens of thousands of leading medical specialists and asks them: "If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty, to whom would you refer them?" This process mimics the informal, peer-to-peer referral process that doctors themselves use to determine appropriate specialists for individual cases and is recognized as the gold standard for identifying top-quality doctors.

In compiling this year’s list, Best Doctors processed more than 1 million individual evaluations. The resulting database includes more than 33,000 U.S. physicians, the top 3 to 5 percent of physicians in this country.

A list of the 76 MCG Health System physicians, listed by their medical specialty as reported in "Best Doctors in America," is below. The national directory contains 179 Augusta-area physicians.

MCG Health System is composed of three separate organizations -- MCG Health, Inc. and the clinical services offered by the faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the members of the MCG Physicians Practice Group Foundation. The physicians of MCG Health System are community physicians, faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia, or employees of the MCG Physicians Practice Group Foundation, not employees of MCG Health, Inc. MCG Health, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCG Medical Center, MCG Children’s Medical Center, the MCG Sports Medicine Center, MCG Ambulatory Care Center, the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center and related clinical facilities and services. MCG Health, Inc. was formed to support the research and education mission of the Medical College of Georgia and to build the economic growth of the CSRA, the state of Georgia and the Southeast by providing an environment for faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the MCG Physicians Practice Group Foundation and community physicians to deliver the highest level of primary and specialty health care. For more information, please visit www.MCGHealth.org.

• Allergy and Immunology:
  Dr. William K. Dolen, Dr. Dennis R. Ownby, Dr. Betty B. Wray
      
• Anesthesiology:
  Dr. Eugene K. Betts, Dr. James Mayfield
     
• Dermatology:
  Dr. Loretta M. Davis, Dr. Jack L. Lesher, Jr.
     
• Infectious Disease:
  Dr. Daniel Baxter Craig, Dr. John F. Fisher, Dr. David R. Haburchak, Dr. J. Peter Rissing
     
• Internal Medicine (General):
  Dr. Laura L. Mulloy
     
• Family Medicine:
  Dr. Michael Felz, Dr. Paul D. Forney, Dr. Julia Ellen Hendrich
    
• Hand Surgery:
  Dr. Simeon Marcus Fulcher
     
• Medical Genetics:
  Dr. Lawrence C. Layman
     
• Medical Oncology and Hematology:
  Dr. Anand Jillella
     
• Nephrology:
  Dr. Laura L. Mulloy, Dr. Steven J. Schwab
     
• Neurological Surgery:
  Dr. Mark R. Lee
     
• Neurology:
  Dr. Robert J. Adams, Dr. David C. Hess, Dr. Mary D. Hughes, Dr. J. Ned Pruitt II,
  Dr. Michael H. Rivner, Dr. Kapil D. Sethi
    
• Neurology (Child):
  Dr. James E. Carroll
     
• Obstetrics and Gynecology:
  Dr. Lawrence D. Devoe, Dr. Sharad A. Ghamande, Dr. Lawrence C. Layman,
  Dr. Michael Scott Macfee, Dr. Barry Miles Wolk
     
• Ophthalmology:
  Dr. David D. Bogorad, Dr. Stephanie L. Goei, Dr. Parag A. Gokhale, Dr. Julian Nussbaum,
  Dr. Dilip Thomas
     
• Orthopaedic Surgery:
  Dr. Styles Leslie Bertrand, Dr. Raymond Scott Corpe, Dr. Walton W. Curl,
  Dr. David Montgomery (Monte) Hunter, Dr. Jonathan Pellett, Dr. Michael Tucker
     
• Otolaryngology:
  Dr. Mitchell Byrne Austin, Dr. Christine G. Gourin, Dr. Stilianos E. Kountakis,
  Dr. Gregory Postma, Dr. David J. Terris
     
• Pediatrics (General):
  Dr. Reda Bassali, Dr. Karen Carter, Dr. Karen J. M. Foushee,
  Dr. Davidson L. Freeman, Dr. Kimberly Jester, Dr. Kathryn McLeod
      
• Pediatric Specialist:
  Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, Dr. Margaret F. Guill, Dr. Rita S. Jerath, Dr. William Lutin,
  Dr. Andrew B. Muir, Dr. Dennis Murray, Dr. Roger A. Vega, Dr. Henry B. Wiles
     
• Plastic Surgery:
  Dr. Kenna S. Given, Dr. Jack C. Yu
     
• Psychiatry:
  Dr. Peter F. Buckley, Dr. Jeffrey L. Rausch, Dr. Sandra Bishop Sexson
     
• Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine:
  Dr. W. Bruce Davis
     
• Radiation Oncology:
  Dr. W. Chris Sheils
     
• Surgery:
  Dr. Robyn Maurice Hatley, Dr. Charles G. Howell, Jr., Dr. Bruce V. MacFadyen, Jr.,
  Dr. Joseph Sheppard Mondy III, Dr. James J. Wynn
     
• Surgical Oncology:
  Dr. David Scott Lind
     
• Thoracic Surgery:
  Dr. James St. Louis
     
• Urology:
  Dr. Ronald W. Lewis