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

Taylor, a Harvard-trained physician, focuses on a wide range of clinical interests, including head and neck oncology, endoscopic sinus surgery, and anterior skull base surgery. In terms of research, he has studied the treatment and quality-of-life issues involving head and neck cancer patients.

PEDIATRICS

James W. Collins Jr., M.D., M.P.H.

Title: Attending Physician, Neonatology, Children's Memorial Hospital; Professor of Pediatrics, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine

Specialty: Neonatology

Collins has a special interest in issues pertaining to perinatal epidemiology and low birth weight babies. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the March of Dimes Basil O'Conner Research Grant for his work with perinatal outcomes in African Americans.

Phylis A. Dennery, M.D., F.A.A.P.

Title: Chief, Division of Neonatology and Newborn Service, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Health System

Specialty: Neonatal/Perinatal Medicine

An attending physician in the Newborn/Infant Center, Dennery also trains and supervises medical students and neonatal post-doctoral fellows. Her clinical interest is neonatal jaundice, and her research probes the regulation of lung gene expression in oxidative stress.

Timothy M. George, M.D.

Title: Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery and Neurosciences, Dell Children's Medical Center; Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Texas, Austin

Specialty: Pediatric Neurosurgery

George oversees the pediatric neurosurgery center at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas. Among his research interests are cranial nerve stimulation for pediatric epilepsy and abnormal development of the spinal cord. Before this appointment, George was associate professor of neurosurgery, pediatrics, and neurobiology at Duke University.

Kelvin J. Holloway, M.D., M.B.A.

Title: Healthcare Administrator, Asthma & Allergy Specialist; Pediatrician, Morehouse Medical Associates

Specialty: Pediatrics

Holloway is best known as an asthma/allergy specialist and pediatrician, sewing at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Hughes Spalding, and downtown Atlanta's Morehouse Medical Associates, the clinical service arm of Morehouse School of Medicine.

Yolanda Wimberly, M.D., M.Sc.

Title: Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics; Program Director, Pediatric Residency Program, Morehouse School of Medicine

Specialty: Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine

Wimberly is a recognized expert in adolescent health and focuses on sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health, and human sexuality. An emerging leader in pediatrics, she won the Georgia Chapter's American Academy of Pediatrics' 2007 Young Physician Award.

PLASTIC SURGERY

Emily Pollard, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Title: Chief of Plastic Surgery, Lankenau Hospital; Assistant Professor of Surgery & Associate Dean of Minority Affairs, Drexel University School of Medicine

Specialty: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery

Pollard is one of only about 35 African American women who are board-certified plastic surgeons. She is highly sought after to share her opinions on issues and complications of cosmetic surgery that primarily affect women of color. She has appeared on NBC's Today Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

SURGERY

Spencer Amory, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Title: Jose M. Ferrer Clinical Professor of Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Chief, Division of General Surgery, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center

Specialty: General Surgery, Laparoscopic Surgery, and Surgical Endoscopy

The current awardee of the Columbia Leonard Tow award for humanism in medicine, Amory specializes in disparate areas of surgery including laparoscopic, colonoscopy, and gall bladder. His techniques yielded one of the lowest open cholecystectomy (gall bladder) rates nationwide.

Edward M. Barksdale Jr., M.D.

Title: Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Ease Medical Center, Case University Medical School; Vice Chairman of Surgery, University Hospital/Case Medical Center

Specialty: Pediatric Surgery

Barksdale was once a clinical instructor in surgery on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He went on to complete a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati. Barksdale's research in neuroblastoma was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, M.D.

Title: Chief, Scoliosis Service, Hospital for Special Surgery

Specialty: Orthopaedic Surgery

Boachie-Adjei specializes in performing surgeries to correct spine deformities in patients from infants to adults. He also helped establish the Foundation of Orthopaedics and Complex Spine, which treats bone and joint disorders throughout West Africa.

Charles Bridges, M.D., Sc.D.

Title: Associate Professor of Surgery, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Faculty of Bioengineering Department, University of Pennsylvania; Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Pennsylvania Hospital

Specialty: Cardiac Surgery

Because of his revolutionary work in molecular cardiac surgery, a unique approach to gene therapy for heart failure, Bridges has received $3 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The four-year grant will enable him to expand on a methodology that could provide alternatives to heart transplants and artificial heart devices.

Clive Callender, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Title: LaSalle D. Leffall Jr. Professor of Surgery and Chairman, Department of Surgery, Howard University College of Medicine; Director, Transplant Center, Howard University Hospital

Specialties: Transplantation Surgery, General Surgery

Callender is a leading physician in organ transplant medicine. He has the distinction of becoming the first doctor to be asked to become a LaSalle D. Leffall Jr. professor of surgery at Howard University College of Medicine.

Benjamin Carson Sr., M.D.

Title: Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins Children Center; Professor, Neurosurgery, Ontology, Plastic Surgery, and Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Specialty: Neurosurgery

Carson is a world-renowned neurosurgeon best known for his work in surgically separating five sets of twins joined at the head. He is an expert in pediatric congenital spinal deformities, achondroplasia (human dwarfism), and cerebral hemispherectomy, a surgery where half of the brain is removed to help control intractable seizures.

Haile T. Debas, M.D:

Title: Professor of Surgery and Executive Director, University of California San Francisco Global Health Sciences

Specialty: Surgery

Debas is a distinguished gastrointestinal surgeon, physiologist, and leader in the field of academic medicine. The former dean helped the UCSF School of Medicine become a national model for medical education. He is one of a few surgeons to be elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dale Distant, M.D.

Title: Director of Transplantation Surgery and Professor of Surgery, State University of New York Health Science Center, Brooklyn-Downstate Medical Center; Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, New York University School of Medicine

Specialty: Transplant Surgery

Distant is an innovative leader in the field of transplantation. He initiated the technique of laparoscopic donor nephrectomy for living donor transplantation at SUNY Downstate and the use of the dual kidney transplant technique.

Titus Duncan, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Title: Director of Minimally Invasive & Bariatric Surgery, Atlanta Medical Center

Specialty: Surgery

A pioneer in the technique, and armed with more than 20 years experience, Duncan is called upon to teach laparoscopic surgery techniques to surgeons worldwide. The founder of Peachtree Surgical & Bariatrics Associates P.C, he is a former president of the Atlanta Medical Association.

Debra Ford, M.D.

Title: Associate Professor & Vice Chairman of Surgery, and Head of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Director of General Surgery Residency Program, Howard University Hospital/Howard University College of Medicine

Specialty: Surgery

A dedicated physician with more than 18 years of experience, Ford specializes in colon, rectal, and general surgery. Her clinical research concentrates on the diagnosis and treatment of colon and rectal cancer screening for surgery, diagnosis management, and treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Henri Ford, M.D.

Title: Vice President & Chief of Surgery, Children's Hospital Los Angeles; Professor & Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Surgery, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Specialty: Pediatric Surgery

Ford oversees the entire perioperative services at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Ford is also credited with the high-tech minimally invasive surgery program developed at CHLA. He is a world-renowned researcher in the field of necrotizing enterocolitis, a devastating illness that affects the intestine of premature infants.

Wayne Frederick, M.D.F.A.C.S.

Title: Chief of General Surgery, Deputy Director, and Howard University Cancer Center Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Howard University

Specialty: Surgery