Department of Surgery News | Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University

<BIG>12 ON OUR FACULTY ARE SELECTED AS "TOP DOCTORS" BY CASTLE CONNOLLY FOR INCLUSION IN NEW EDITION OF ITS GUIDE</BIG>
 
Representing Top 10% of Physicians in Tri-State Metropolitan New York Area

STONY BROOK, NY, February 28, 2014 — We are very pleased to announce that 12 members of our faculty have been selected for inclusion in the latest (17th) edition of <a href="http://www.castleconnolly.com" target="_blank">Castle Connolly</a>'s Top Doctors: New York Metro Area, published this month.

This is the greatest number of our faculty, to date, to earn the Castle Connolly "Top Doctor" recognition in a single edition.

The Castle Connolly selection is based on screening by a physician-directed research team that identifies the top 10% of physicians in the tri-state metropolitan New York area. Here are the names and specialties of our selected physicians:

<ul>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-thomas-v-bilfinger">Thomas V. Bilfinger, MD, ScD</a> | Thoracic Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-alexander-b-dagum">Alexander B. Dagum, MD</a> | Plastic Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-harold-a-fernandez">Harold A. Fernandez, MD</a> | Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-thomas-k-lee">Thomas K. Lee, MD</a> | Pediatric Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-brian-j-ohea">Brian J. O'Hea, MD</a> | Surgery (Breast & Oncologic)</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-aurora-d-pryor">Aurora D. Pryor, MD</a> | Surgery (Bariatric & Gastrointestinal)</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-richard-j-scriven">Richard J. Scriven, MD</a> | Pediatric Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-marc-j-shapiro">Marc J. Shapiro, MD</a> | Surgery (Gastrointestinal)</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-william-b-smithy">William B. Smithy, MD</a> | Colon & Rectal Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-apostolos-k-tassiopoulos">Apostolos K. Tassiopoulos, MD</a> | Vascular Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-james-r-taylor-jr">James R. Taylor Jr., MD</a> | Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery</li>

<li class="innertext"> <a href="/surgery/people/faculty/dr-kevin-t-watkins">Kevin T. Watkins, MD</a> | Surgery (Gastrointestinal & Oncologic)</li>

</ul>

Three of these physicians — Drs. Dagum, O'Hea, and Pryor — were also selected for inclusion in Castle Connolly's America's Top Doctors, published in January, and they represent the top 1% of physicians in the entire nation.

"The clinical achievement recognized in our ‘Top Doctor’ faculty reflects the excellence that is the mission of our entire faculty," says <a href="http://medicine.stonybrookmedicine.edu/surgery/people/faculty/dr-mark-a… A. Talamini, MD</a>, professor and chairman of surgery, and founding director of the Stony Brook Medical Innovation Institute. "It also serves as the model of excellence for our residents and medical students at Stony Brook Medicine."

<div class="subhead">About the Selection Process</div>

Top Doctors: New York Metro Area is a popular guide used to identify top primary care and specialty care doctors in the tri-state metropolitan New York area, with profiles of more than 6,400 top primary care and specialty care physicians in a 21-county area spanning New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

These "Top Doctors" represent the top 10% in the area in 65 medical specialties and subspecialties for the care and treatment of more than 1,800 diseases and medical conditions.

Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. bases its selection process on peer nominations. All licensed physicians, MDs and DOs, are invited to participate.

Physicians can nominate those other doctors whom they feel are the most outstanding in their medical specialties, in any area of medicine and in any part of the country, indicating also whether they believe that the physician is among the best in their region or among the very best in the nation.

Already-selected Castle Connolly "Top Doctors" are actively encouraged through various communications to participate in this process as well. A physician cannot nominate himself or herself.

The Castle Connolly physician-led research team reviews the credentials of every physician being considered for inclusion in Castle Connolly Guides. The review includes, among other factors, scrutiny of medical education, training, board certifications, hospital appointments, administrative posts, professional achievements, and malpractice/disciplinary history.

After this review of credentials, nominated physicians may be chosen to be listed as a regionally outstanding or a nationally outstanding Castle Connolly "Top Doctor."

<a href="http://www.stonybrookphysicians.com/cpmp/bestdocs/ny_metro_top_doctors…; target="_blank">Click here</a> to see the names and specialties of all the faculty physicians at Stony Brook Medicine selected as 2014 Castle Connolly Top Doctors.