Note: Only selected content from the "Best Doctors" issue is available online. If you'd like to obtain a back issue of "Best Doctors," click here.

• Once again we present a Hall of Fame: eleven physicians whose work exemplifies the medical profession's ideal, whether they're restoring hearing to the profoundly deaf, giving hope to HIV-infected addicts -- or repairing David Letterman's heart.

• This year we've spotlighted specialists in MS, asthma, prostate-cancer aftercare, and Lyme disease . . . (read on)

• Some years ago, my doctor -- my brain surgeon, actually -- invited me to a dinner party. This was not long after he'd operated on my right occipital lobe, near the center of vision, removing some worn, knotty blood vessels . . . (read on)

Related:

• Archive: “Cover Story”
• Table of Contents: Jun 5, 2000 issue of New York | Subscribe!