Illustration by Mckibillo.

Doctors Without Peers
Star specialists in critical disciplines.

(1.) PARKINSON’S DISEASE
Dr. Stanley Fahn, Columbia University
Widely considered the country’s top Parkinson’s expert, Fahn developed broadly used measures to assess the disease and is researching various possible cures.

(2.) LUNG CANCER
Dr. Mark Kris and Dr. Vincent Miller, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Their work on why many patients develop a resistance to lung-cancer medicines could pave the way to better treatments.

(3.) HEART DISEASE
Dr. Jeffrey Moses, New York–Presbyterian/ Columbia University Medical Center
Moses is so highly regarded that when he left Lenox Hill Hospital for rival Columbia, much of his unit went, too.

(4.) OBESITY
Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, Rockefeller University
His discovery of leptin, a hormone that controls weight, could lead to a breakthrough weight-control pill.

(5.) FERTILITY
Dr. Jamie Grifo, NYU Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Grifo can postpone motherhood by freezing eggs; Rosenwaks built the country’s first egg-donor program.

(6.) BIOCHEMISTRY
Dr. Richard Axel and Dr. Eric Kandel, Columbia University
Axel’s work on gene transfer and Kandel’s on memory could unlock the secrets of diseases like Alzheimer’s. Both are Nobel winners.

(7.) BREAST CANCER
Dr. Larry Norton, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
His novel chemotherapy protocol calibrates drug dosages to maintain effectiveness while minimizing toxicity.

PROSTATE CANCER
Dr. Aaron Katz, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center
His research on acupuncture and Chinese medicine as cancer-fighters is giving hope to those who don’t respond to chemotherapy or radiation.

AIDS
Dr. David Ho, Aaron Diamond AIDS
Research Center The world-renowned AIDS researcher has developed a possible vaccine called ADMVA. The FDA approved it in December.