Local Midlands Docs Named Best in U.S.

Nine physicians with offices in the Midlands have been named to U.S. News and World Report's rankings of Top Doctors in the country.

The Top Doctors directory includes 31,000 physicians from all across the U.S. Doctors are included in the directory based on the recommendations of other physicians through a peer nomination process, according to the magazine.

Local doctors making the list include:

• Dr. Richard Bell, critical care surgeon-Palmetto Health Richland
• Dr. William Butler, medical oncologist-Palmetto Health Richland
• Dr. Robert Callis, family medicine doctor-Lexington Medical Center
• Dr. David Downie IV, child and adolescent psychiatrist-Palmetto Health Richland
• Dr. Chad Gunnlaugsson, ear, nose and throat doctor-Providence Hospital
• Dr. Ronnie Neuberg, pediatric hematologist/oncologist-Palmetto Health Richland and the Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital
• Dr. Thomas Novick, surgeon-William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Hospital
• Dr. Richard Wassermann, plastic surgeon-Palmetto Health Richland
• Dr. James Williams Jr., gynecologic oncologist-Lexington Medical Center and Palmetto Health Richland

Looking for a doctor? Search the Irmo, St. Andrews, Lexginton or Northeast Columbia directories for a physician near you. 

Castle Connolly Medical, an organization that identifies and publishes a guide of the nation's top doctors, listed both Butler and Neuberg among the top one percent in the nation in their respective specialities.

According to the U.S. News and World Report, Neuberg is nationally ranked in six specialties and listed as "high performing" in nine specialties. 

U.S. News says physicians cannot pay to be included in the directory. It says recommendations from other physicians is the best way to determine outstanding physicians.

Read the full listing at U.S. News and World Report.