For Immediate Release
Mary Jane Gore
434-924-9241
mjgore@virginia.edu

Want a Top Doctor in Cancer Care? Try UVa Health System

Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 4, 2006 -- Through nominations by their peers, 20 University of Virginia physicians were named to the 2006 list of America's Top Doctors for Cancer (second edition, Castle Connolly Medical). The number of UVa doctors selected increased from 15 last year.

America's Top Doctors for Cancer identifies the nation's most outstanding physicians for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers and includes a wide variety of specialists. This new edition of Castle Connolly's guide contains detailed profiles of the nation's leaders in more than 40 cancer sub-specialties, who work to diagnose and treat cancers in adults and children.

"We are very pleased to see so many physicians from the UVa Cancer Center recognized not only for their clinical and academic research accomplishments, but also for the excellence of their patient care," said Michael Weber, director of the UVa Cancer Center. "These are well-rounded physicians who attend to the needs of each person with cancer, while also helping to ensure that cancer care in the future is even better."

This news follows a recent approval by the UVa Board of Visitors of a design for the new UVa Cancer Center. "We are grateful that our world-renowned physicians will soon have a new, state-of-the-art facility in which to treat the citizens of the Commonwealth and their families," Weber said.

The UVa doctors named as America's Top Doctors for Cancer are:

 Reid Adams Surgical Oncology 
 Thomas M. Daniel Thoracic Surgery
 Eugene F. Foley      General Surgery
 William W. Grosh                      Hematology/Oncology
 John B. Hanks                           General Surgery
 Maria Kelly                              Radiation Oncology
James Larner Radiation Oncology
Edward R. Laws, Jr.                   Neurological Surgery
Paul A. Levine                Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Stacey E. Mills               Pathology
Tyvin Andrew Rich Radiation Oncology
 Maureen Ross  Hematology/Oncology
 David Schiff                                Neurology
 Mark E Shaffrey   Neurological Surgery
 Craig Slingluff   Surgical Oncology
 Peyton T. Taylor, Jr.       Gynecologic Oncology
 Daniel Theodorescu   Urology
 Mary Lee Vance             Endocrinology and Metabolism 
 Geoffrey R. Weiss                      Hematology/Oncology
 Michael Williams                        Hematology/Oncology 

The Top Doctors were selected through a peer nomination process. Each physician invited to nominate other doctors is given an anonymous opportunity to nominate outstanding physicians in cancer sub-specialties. The publishing firm seeks nominations not only of those who excel in academic medicine and research but, most importantly, those physicians who exhibit excellence in patient care, someone to whom nominating physicians would send members of their own family. In addition to professional qualifications, the nominating physicians are asked to consider interpersonal skills when proposing a physician for inclusion in the Castle Connolly Guide.

To hear Dr. John Connolly, publisher of the guide, discuss how to select a Top Doctor, click below for the July 12, 2006, NBC Today Show broadcast:

Today Show -- How to Choose a Top Doctor

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