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Home / Boston Magazine / Boston Top Doctors 2009 : Best Boston Doctors : Top Boston Docs 2009

Top Doctors 2009

The Best Physicians in 55 Specialties, as Chosen by Their Peers

By J.L. Johnson

Posted on 11/23/09

Text Size: A | A | A

Here in Boston, you don’t have to look far to find a cutting-edge physician, prize-winning researcher, or big-thinking academic—after all, our world-class array of med schools and hospitals is packed with them. But where to begin when you need not just a great doctor, but also someone who will excel at caring for you and your family? The short answer: Right here.

Our annual Top Doctors list showcases more than 300 M.D.s—pediatricians to ophthalmologists, brain surgeons to OB/GYNs—who have been singled out by their peers as representing the best in Hub healthcare. Plus: We catch up with local physicians in six leading specialties, and meet the future of medicine in our med student photo essay.

Top Doctors 2009: The List
The best physicians in 55 specialties, as chosen by their peers.

Making the Rounds
A chat with half a dozen of this year's top doctors in leading specialties.

The Doctors Are In (Progress)
The city is filled with young people you may one day know as your heart surgeon, or your kid’s pediatrician. Meet 12 of them today.

Top Doctors 2009: Your Questions Answered
Frequently asked questions about Boston magazine's Top Doctors package.

Boston's Top Hospitals
Your at-a-glance guide to the city's premier healthcare centers.

About Our Top Doctors List
To identify the area’s best doctors, we partnered with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a healthcare researcher that has prepared physician lists for magazines including Money, New York, and our sister publication, Philadelphia, and which also publishes America’s Top Doctors, a guide to the country’s top 1 percent of medical specialists. Each year Castle Connolly invites tens of thousands of U.S. physicians to nominate outstanding peers at both the regional and national levels; from that group, it identified the top Boston-area specialists featured in our December issue. For answers to frequently asked asked questions about the list, click here.

To get the full Top Doctors 2009 List, subscribe to Boston magazine, or purchase the December 2009 issue, on newsstands now.

Originally published in Boston magazine, December 2009

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User Comments:

Posted by | Nov. 25, 2009 at 3:52 PM

COMMENT:

Nonsense
Posted by Anonymous | Nov. 26, 2009 at 8:05 AM

COMMENT:

This survey is nothing more than a popularity contest dictated by hospital politics. Cross-reference some of the names on this list with malpractice payouts on the Mass. Board of Medicine website and see the results. Do not base your choice of doctor on these kinds of results, do you homework.

my doctor deserves to be on it
Posted by Jan | Dec. 4, 2009 at 6:47 AM

COMMENT:

I put off getting my a mammogram for 17 years, until Dr. Fishman cornered me and asked me why? I said I don't want to know, I just want to drop dead. She said well, guess what? you won't just drop dead, you'll suffer and you'll suffer a lot. So I finally went, and I don't have breast cancer and I never would have gone if she didn't let me have it. I think she's great.

I know this for a fact...
Posted by Greg | Dec. 5, 2009 at 4:32 PM

COMMENT:

I wouldn't be alive if not for the man on the cover. I had a severe esophageal tear in January, and was back to work by March. Glad to see Dr. Swanson on the cover. He is outstanding. I've always heard that he was great, but never guessed that I'd be lying on his table after a frightening trauma.

Or his brother...?
Posted by Anonymous | Dec. 8, 2009 at 2:07 AM

COMMENT:

Dr. Swanson is not doubt highly qualified, but I thought it was Rich Swanson, his brother, who was to be selected.

better places to find a doctor
Posted by Anonymous | Dec. 8, 2009 at 5:40 AM

COMMENT:

Have to agree with prior comment dont use this as a guide to selecting MDs. Hospital ad revenue plays a big role here. Better to check board of registration. Also, wasnt this Swanson doctor practicing in NY for the past 10 yrs. How does he get to be Bostons best? Hmmm. A quick search of MD review sites (ie Vitals) came up with this Dr. Swanson allowed another doctor to perform surgery on my mom after explicit instructions that only he was to perform the surgery. My mom went into respiratory failure and died after the surgery.

Dr Paul Farmer
Posted by Anonymous | Dec. 9, 2009 at 9:43 AM

COMMENT:

Perhaps I missed a word about Dr Paul Farmer, world wide expert on infectious disease. one example: click here

Podiatrists
Posted by Joe | Dec. 21, 2009 at 10:39 AM

COMMENT:

Podiatrists seem to be left out of Boston's best magazine every year. They are in fact a vital part of healthcare and some of the best physicians in Massachusetts

DANGEROUS NONSENSE - Shawna Murray MD
Posted by Dr.ShawnaMurray | Feb. 3, 2010 at 10:30 AM

COMMENT:

These lists are politically and financially motivated nonsense. They do not reflect the true clinical abilities or character of these doctors and so are very dangerous. If a physician is tolerant of other doctors psychopathology and abuse of patients, then they will be allowed to progress themselves and will not be harmed. Some of the present and past "best doctors" are dangerous and even criminally involved in patient and employee abuse. The doctors on this list are just the ones who have played the game well, not necessarily the best doctors or the best people. Complaints against doctors are most often not appropriately logged and investigated. Patient representatives at the hospitals only serve as cheap lawyers to deflect complaints. Lawyers will not take cases unless certain legal criteria are met, which do not reflect the clinical malfeasance or bad events, even if they are systemic. Medical records are commonly doctored to hide fault. Verbal, psychological, physical, and

DANGEROUS NONSENSE - Shawna Murray MD-continued
Posted by Dr.ShawnaMurray | Feb. 3, 2010 at 10:33 AM

COMMENT:

...see previous post Complaints against doctors are most often not appropriately logged and investigated. Patient representatives at the hospitals only serve as cheap lawyers to deflect complaints. Lawyers will not take cases unless certain legal criteria are met, which do not reflect the clinical malfeasance or bad events, even if they are systemic. Medical records are commonly doctored to hide fault. Verbal, psychological, physical, and even sexual abuse of patients is routine and not contained. Medical battery is the rule, not he exception in our politically wired, malignant medical system. Hospitals and physicians have too much to gain by hiding malfeasance and so do not admit their management problems or bad results. Boston Magazine has a long history of failing the public in this regard. The Board of Registration of Medicine is a political agency, not an appropriate regulatory agency. Boston Magazine does a grave injustice to the people by supporting the malignant medi

To Dr. ShawnaMurray (or should we say...LunaticFruitcake)
Posted by Anonymous | Feb. 18, 2010 at 3:51 AM

COMMENT:

OK CRAZYGIRL......OFF THE INTERNET! UNDERSTAND? OFF! AND TAKE YOUR PILLS.

Did Elsie Seiben's Baby Have To Die?
Posted by DrShawnaMurray | Jul. 2, 2010 at 12:02 PM

COMMENT:

Let's see some real journalism at Boston Magazine. Stop misrepresenting reality. Stop writing inflammatory crap like "Did Elsie Seiben's Baby Have To Die?". Answer: YES. The Best Doctors lists are