America's leading doctors: from treating heart disease to fighting cancer, These physicians are changing world of medicine.

That is part of his charge as he leads Howard University's Department of Surgery to national prominence in patient care. teaching, and research. "During the days of segregation, there were few places [for African American medical students] to go other than Meharry and Howard," he says, citing Howard's role in the development of first-class physicians and surgeons. "A lot of my early heroes were doctors right here."

Cornwell joined Howard in January, leaving his post as professor of surgery and chief of trauma at Baltimore-based The Johns Hopkins Hospital. A native son of Washington, D.C, his vision for Howard's department of surgery is to advance surgical procedures such as transplants, cardiovascular surgery, and bariatric surgery used to help obese patients lose weight. He has also focused on the treatment of cancer and improvement of trauma/critical care services. --Carolyn M. Brown

Specialty: Pediatric Endocrinology

Ilene Fennoy, M.D., M.P.H.

Medical Director, Comprehensive Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Program. Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital: Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics. Columbia University

FOR 25 YEARS, FENNOY HAS TREATED CHILDREN WITH DIABETES MOST OF HER cases involve the type 2 variety, previously thought to occur in those 45 years of age or older, hut which has reached epidemic proportions among youth ages 11-14. The disease is linked to obesity and disproportionately affects children of color. Today, roughly 10% to 15% of children and teens are overweight, twice the figure two decades ago. Diabetes and insulin resistance are big medical problems for endocrinologists, says 61-year old Fennoy.

Fennoy's most recent clinical research involves a five-year study of a school-based intervention of exercise and nutrition education funded by the Academic Medicine Development Co. "The kids that we are dealing with are truly morbidly obese with a body mass index above 35," she says. "We are talking about extremes with average weights in the 300s." Six months into the study, roughly 40 children, who had gastric banding operations, are losing weight, this is a safe and minimally invasive surgical procedure says Fennoy.

"The band is a mechanical restructive device (placed around the stomach) that can be adjusted. So the patient is in control of how they use this tool." In comparison, "gastric bypass can cause malabsorption," Fennoy explains. "if malabsorption is not appropriately monitored. It can lead to major medical problems down the tine. It's hard for some adolescents to follow through as they transition into adulthood." Fennoy's work will be responsible for a number of youths staying healthy and fit during their formative years.--Carolyn M. Brown

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Specialty: Cardiology

Gary H. Gibbons, M.D.

Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute; Professor or Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine

AFTER A LECTURE DURING HIS FIRST YEAR AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, Gibbons asked a professor why African Americans tend to have more hypertension than other populations. The professor challenged Gibbons to find the answer to his own question. Thirty years later, Gibbons is still searching for answers. Gibbons' research group at the Morehouse School of Medicine tries to figure out the role genes play, along with lifestyle choices, in the cardiovascular health of minority populations. One project investigates how genes react in the blood vessels of African American patients with hypertension as compared to those who don't have hypertension.

Over the years, Gibbons' research has yielded several U.S. patents for medical innovations and he has authored more than 70 scientific papers. In 2007 he was elected into the elite Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

The future, says Gibbons, could bring personalized medical care based on patients' distinct genetic makeup. Tests will reveal the sequence of all genes in a patient's body, and this genetic profile may enable doctors to personalize the prescriptions or treatments to give that person. "The challenge would be to really advance minority health by understanding what genomic variation may be characteristic or common among people of African descent and really defining how we can use this information to individualize care," says Gibbons.--Cliff Hocker

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Specialty: Cosmetic Surgery

Anthony Griffin, M.D., F.A.C.S. Director, Beverly Hills Cosmetic Surgery Institute

GRIFFIN IS KNOWN IN HOLLYWOOD CIRCLES FOR PIONEERING THE Brazilian Butt Lift and signature procedures such as the Six Pack Tummy Tuck and the non-incision or No-Tell Nose Job. For the highly recognized doctor of television's Extreme Makeover, the biggest challenge is that people don't see plastic surgeons as doctors or take cosmetic procedures seriously when it comes to safety and aftercare. "They see us as a high-priced beauty consultant. But this is medicine," says Griffin, who also specializes in surgical techniques for African American and other ethnic skin types.

People of color accounted for 23% of the 11.5 million cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2006. Only 3% of board-certified plastic surgeons are African American. Griffin is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery and a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. While about 90% of his practice is cosmetic, the other 10% is reconstructive surgery.

The Beverly Hills doctor is involved with Operation Smile, a group that organizes annual missions around the world to reconstruct childhood facial deformities at no cost. Griffin gained expertise in repairing cleft lip and palate deformities during his residency at the University of Southern California. He went on his first Operation Smile mission to Kenya in 1995, where he met and later married his wife, a registered nurse. "After 45 minutes of changing a kid's life forever, I realized this is what I am supposed to be doing," says Griffin, who has since gone on more than 10 missions. "At times, 300 to 400 kids will show up and we can only do 150. I usually do five to seven a day or about 70 cases in all."--Carolyn M. Brown

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Specialty: General Pediatrics, Biomedical Informatics

Kevin Johnson, M.D., M.S.

Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Biomedical Informatics and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

TO MAKE HEALTHCARE BETTER, JOHNSON PUTS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO WORK. This developer of clinical information systems works with a Vanderbilt team that's a global leader in its field. Used for more than 60,000 prescriptions each month, their software automatically checks for medical mistakes and drug contraindications.

In Memphis, Tennessee, his team's "health information exchange" work connects many of the area's emergency departments and clinics. "Imagine that a patient seen in one part of town just hours before for chest pain can have previous radiology and procedure reports available to an emergency department in another part of town virtually instantaneously," Johnson says. "Our research has already impacted the healthcare delivered to patients in emergency departments in Memphis. It is a nationally exciting project, and one that we get to use to show the amazing potential of electronic health records."

Johnson's interest in healthcare was kindled during his childhood in Baltimore, when Johns Hopkins doctors and nurses took care of him during asthma attacks. By the time he entered college, he upgraded his ambitions to pediatrics upon realizing he was a "people person" who enjoyed interacting with families. As a student at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johnson's passion for computer science led him to conduct research in biomedical informatics, and he received a master's degree from Stanford in the discipline once he completed his residency in pediatrics.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Project Health Design funds Johnson's initiative to work with children to help them take their medication on time.

--Cliff Hocker

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Specialty: Shoulder and Knee Orthopaedic Surgery

Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

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Pratt Distinguished Professor and Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia

Specialty: Shoulder and Knee Orthopaedic Surgery

THESE DAYS, THINGS ARE PRETTY BUSY FOR LAURENCIN. AN INTERNATIONALLY known shoulder and knee clinical specialist with cutting edge research as a professor of chemical engineering and biomedical engineering, he is fellowship trained in shoulder surgery and sports medicine and one of only three practicing orthopaedic surgeons in America elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Recently named to the 2007 Scientific American 50 list for his groundbreaking technology for regeneration of the anterior cruciate ligament using a bioengineered matrix, the chair of the University of Virginia Orthopaedic Surgery Department launched Laurencin Laboratories, a Center for Musculoskeletal Regeneration and Repair in 2005.

The ACL is the most commonly injured knee ligament, with roughly half a million cases a year reported worldwide. Laurencin has developed a fiber technology that essentially replaces the ACL with a bioengineered ligament. This allows the ligament to generate new growth to repair the knee. So far, he has achieved success in small animal tests and will begin large-animal testing this year, and eventually, treatment of humans.