The Top Doctors in Seattle for 2018

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This article appears in print in the April 2018 issue, as part of the Top Doctors cover story. Click here to subscribe.

Edited by Virginia Smyth | Research by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., Erika Almanza Brown and Sunny Parsons | Stories by Erika Almanza Brown, Maria Dolan, Sally James and Megan Toal

Health care is becoming increasingly complex—and remarkable. Research is unlocking more and more secrets about the human body, and conditions that were at one time hopeless have hopeful prognoses today thanks to new therapies. But for many of us, the key to good health is finding the doctor who can help us navigate our way to better health. Whether you’re looking for a specialist or for a doctor to oversee the health of your entire family, consider our annual top doctor list—featuring physicians who have been nominated by their peers—as your cheat sheet to some of the best docs around.

Top Doctors Index
Addiction Psychiatry
Adolescent Medicine
Allergy & Immunology
Cancer Specialties
Cardiac Electrophysiology 
Cardiology
Cardiovascular Disease
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Clinical Genetics 
Colon & Rectal Surgery 
Dermatology 
Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics 
Diagnostic Radiology 
Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism 
Family Medicine 
Gastroenterology 
Geriatric Medicine 
Geriatric Psychiatry
Gynecologic Oncology 
Hand Surgery
Hematology 
Hospice & Palliative Medicine
Infectious Disease
Internal Medicine
Interventional Cardiology 
Maternal & Fetal Medicine
Medical Oncology 
Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Nephrology
Neurological Surgery
Neurology
Neuroradiology
Nuclear Medicine
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Pain Medicine
Pathology
Pediatrics
Pediatric Allergy & Immunology 
Pediatric Cardiology 
Pediatric Endocrinology
Pediatric Gastroenterology 
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology 
Pediatric Infectious Disease
Pediatric Nephrology
Pediatric Neurology
Pediatric Otolaryngology
Pediatric Pulmonology
Pediatric Rheumatology
Pediatric Surgery
Pediatric Urology
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Plastic Surgery
Psychiatry
Pulmonary Disease
Radiation Oncology 
Reproductive Endocrinology
Rheumatology
Sleep Medicine
Sports Medicine
Surgery
Thoracic & Cardiac Surgery 
Urogynecology/Female Pelvic Medicine
Urology
Vascular & Interventional Radiology
Vascular Surgery 

For more, see our featured Q&As with these Top Docs:
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:  Ray Hsiao, M.D. Seattle Children’s hospital
Gynecologic Oncology:  Michelle Benoit, M.D. Kaiser Permanente Washington, Bellevue Medical Center
Interventional Cardiology:  Mahesh Mulumudi, M.D. The Everett Clinic
Internal Medicine:  Carrie Horwitch, M.D. Virginia Mason Internal Medicine
Neurosurgery:  Stephen Houston, M.D. Northwest Neurosurgery
Diagnostic Radiology:  Maria Chong, M.D., Radia

And check out these other highlights from our 2018 Top Doctor package:
Joint Replacements: At one local surgery center, patients can have a joint replaced in the morning and go home in the afternoon
Vision: Seattle scientists have invented glasses that may stop surging cases of myopia
Fertility: For men, getting high may have unexpected consequences
Celiac Support: A new program for families makes it easier to live a gluten-free life
Patient Experience: Bellevue’s new Overlake Cancer Center aims to improve the cancer treatment experience 

See our past Top Doctors features: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009

Methodology

Seattle magazine’s Top Doctors 2018 list was created in collaboration with Connolly Medical Ltd., a health care research and information company founded in 1991 by a former medical college board chairman and president to help guide consumers to America’s top doctors and top hospitals. Castle Connolly’s established nomination survey, research, screening and selection process, under the direction of a medical doctor, involves many hundreds of thousands of physicians as well as academic medical centers, specialty hospitals, and regional and community hospitals all across the nation.

Castle Connolly’s physician-led team of researchers follows a rigorous screening process to select top doctors on both the national and regional levels. Its online nominations process—located at castleconnolly.com/nominations—is open to all licensed physicians in America, who are able to nominate physicians in any medical specialty and in any part of the country, as well as indicate whether the nominated physicians are, in their opinion, among the best in their region in their medical specialty or among the best in the nation in their medical specialty. Careful screening of doctors’ educational and professional experience is essential before final selection is made among those physicians most highly regarded by their peers.

The result: Castle Connolly identifies the top doctors in America and provides you, the consumer, with detailed information about their education, training and special expertise in its paperback guides, national and regional magazine “Top Doctors” features, and online directories.

This year, again in conjunction with Seattle magazine, Castle Connolly additionally opened up the nomination survey process to all licensed physicians in 66 specialty areas in the region for the period from June 26, 2017 to July 26, 2017.

With the support of the magazine and marketing staffs at all the respective hospitals in the Seattle metro area, Castle Connolly garnered 7,843 nominations from more than 602 physicians. This added process enabled Castle Connolly to enhance its existing processes and arrive at the list of Top Doctors for this feature. Doctors selected for the feature must have primary offices located in one of four counties that comprise the magazine’s market: King, Kitsap, Pierce or Snohomish counties. Based on the nomination process, Castle Connolly had more than 1,400 identified Top Doctors in this area. However, because of space limitations, it further selected an “elite subset” to appear in this issue, based on considerations of numbers of nominations and professional activities. Added to that was a focus on appropriate distribution of medical specialties to reflect the differences in the numbers of physicians in various medical specialties with regard to geography and hospital affiliations.

Seattle magazine made an effort to contact all providers on the list to double-check the listing information. In addition to Castle Connolly’s review of state licensure, as an additional measure, Seattle magazine also verified at press time that all the professionals listed were in good standing with the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). Specifically, this means that the physician has an active, unrestricted license (and if a physician had a disciplinary action taken by the DOH, that doctor has completed all required actions). Please note: DOH records do not include malpractice settlements or criminal convictions unless they resulted in an action. Another good place to learn about practitioners is through Healthgrades (healthgrades.com).

While this list is comprehensive, it is not exhaustive. There are many well-qualified providers who are not included. Additionally, this list is limited to those practitioners whom, in general, patients can select. Emergency room physicians and anesthesiology specialists are not included.

The doctors on this list have been nominated by their peers; Seattle magazine is not endorsing these doctors. Physicians selected for inclusion in Seattle magazine’s Top Doctors feature may also appear as Regional Top Doctors online at castleconnolly.com, or in association with other Castle Connolly Top Doctors digital and/or print products. Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected and profiled as Castle Connolly Top Doctors or as Seattle magazine’s Top Doctors.