Top Docs 2011
Top Docs 2011
Inside Out
Michael Petruso talks about the growing need for internists—and the qualities of a good one
February 24th, 2011
Internists, along with other primary care specialties, are in short supply these days. According to a 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, only 2 percent of fourth-year medical students planned to make a career of general internal medicine. Doctors in training cited long hours, an adversarial legal system and administrative hassles as reasons for staying out of primary care. Ironically, research shows that access to primary care physicians results in fewer emergency room visits, lower overall costs and better outcomes for patients. That’s because good primary docs still practice medicine the old-fashioned way: by talking with their patients. Read more »
Top Docs 2011
The Snot Doc
Jim Christensen’s expertise and laid-back bedside manner make him the go-to guy for allergy sufferers
February 24th, 2011
So a nasal wash is effective for a lot of people? “OMG, yeah!” Dr. Jim Christensen exclaims. “You show people how to do that and they go, ‘Whew, you’ve changed my life.’” Quick with a joke, armed with a gregarious personality, the doctor whose e-mail handle is “snotdoc” was by far the leading vote-getter among allergists in the survey. Christensen suspects his longevity and willingness to go to hospitals for consults may be reasons for the wide recognition among colleagues. Read more »
Top Docs 2011
The Commitment
Florence Jameson rose from poverty to prominence. Now she and her volunteer brigade are determined to bring health care to Las Vegas’ poor.
February 24th, 2011
It was well past 2 on a Sunday afternoon in October 2000, and I was becoming more convinced by the minute that I would soon be delivering my own child. My wife had been in labor since Saturday night; our regular doctor was stuck at an airport in Denver; no one had appeared in his stead. Whispers of a mythical doctor-on-call had strangely faded as the baby made its way down the birth canal. Our nurse, who had gotten us started with the requisite counting and pushing, was called away to attend to something that was, she told us, urgent. Count. Push. The crown of a small, pink person came into view. That’s when Dr. Florence Jameson arrived—perhaps it was a hallucination, but I think she may have floated in—with singsong words, deep reassurance and an inimitable mix of mastery and warmth. We’d never seen her before; her understanding of us seemed complete. She informed us that our son’s umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, fixed the problem in the nick of time, and brought the boy into the world. Read more »
Top Docs 2011
Found in Translation
Rosemary Hyun uses multinational skills and compassion to make a difference in young lives
February 24th, 2011
One of the things Rosemary Hyun enjoys most about her job is connecting with young patients, especially those who are first-generation Americans. The Korea native understands the unique trials of growing up in one country with parents who were raised in the traditions of another. It’s this ability to relate and communicate that has helped make her the leading vote-getter among all pediatricians in the Top Docs survey. “I lived it, so of course I’m more sympathetic,” she says. “And I think the families know that I did grow up in the old country, so maybe I draw more of that population.” Read more »
Top Docs 2011
Psyched Up
Dodge A. Slagle gets to the bottom of Las Vegans’ problems, one life story at a time
February 24th, 2011
Perhaps it’s expected when you talk to a psychiatrist, but the questions are thoughtfully considered, the responses carefully crafted, the voice soothing, the pace languid. And the common-sense advice he imparts when prompted would help anyone—the harried executive, the out-of-work welder, the anxious teen or the motorist who’s just been cut off in traffic. “Be respectful of others, and try not to take everything personally. Many of the problems that people have are related to treating something as a personal insult when it really wasn’t,” says Dr. Dodge A. Slagle, who has been treating patients in the Valley since he was assigned to Nellis Air Force Base in 1989. Read more »
Top Docs 2011
He Works on the Brains, She Works on the Beauty
Goesel and John Anson are Las Vegas’ surgical power couple
February 24th, 2011
When you’re the wife of a neurosurgeon, there are sacrifices to be made—long nights at home minding the fort and watching the child while your husband is out fixing brains. “We both can’t have the schedule of a busy neurosurgeon,” says Goesel Anson, whose husband, John, is one of the Valley’s top neurosurgeons. “Obviously someone has to be a little bit more stable, and that someone is me.” Sounds like a classic story of a patient medical spouse. But there’s a catch: Goesel Anson is one of the Valley’s top plastic surgeons. Read more »
Character Study
The Calling
February 24th, 2011
In the summer of 2001, Kimberly “KB” Berry was in her 15th year in the booming Las Vegas property management business. She was good at what she did, serving her fellow man, helping to make sure apartment complexes were running smoothly and residents were living happily. She and her husband, an Air Force search and rescue specialist who would later become a Henderson police officer, had four boys ranging in age from 2 to 20. It was a stable way of life in a stable world. Within six years, she was in her first week as a nurse at the Sunrise Hospital emergency department, assisting a doctor as he placed a catheter into a patient’s brain. Read more »
The Look
Dr. Sufia Palluck
Family and cosmetic dentist at Somerset Dental; age 32
February 24th, 2011
Born in raised in Las Vegas, Sufia isn’t just a pretty face in a white coat. Not only did she play professional soccer in Germany but she also graduated top of her class at USC School of Dentisty. Now she spends her days treating some of the city’s top celebrities and performers. Read more »
Seven Questions
John Ruckdeschel
Nevada Cancer Institute boss on modern challenges, old-style miracles and Las Vegas’ medical potential
February 24th, 2011
As the CEO of the Nevada Cancer Institute, John Ruckdeschel is charged with advancing Nevada’s cancer treatment facilities and managing a faculty of 36, including some of the nation’s top researchers and oncologists. Somehow, he still finds time to see patients, too. All of this gets more complicated because the 65-year-old oncologist has to deal with a shoestring budget restricted by one of the worst economic climates in history. The center opened on Breakthrough Way and Discovery Street in 2005, and Ruckdeschel took over as CEO in 2009. In that short time, he has spearheaded efforts to ensure steady funding from the state while working to bring credible medical programs to Southern Nevada. Read more »
