Top Doctors 2021: SLUCare Physicians Named to St. Louis Magazine List

St. Louis Magazine has released its 2021 Top Doctors issue, revealing the area’s top physicians. The list includes 96 physicians representing SLUCare Physician Group across more than 40 different specialties.

This year, for the first time, St. Louis Magazine partnered with Castle Connelly’s Top Doctors. In addition to the SLUCare doctors who made the Top Doctors List, the magazine also highlighted the research coming out of Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Research by Jeffrey Scherrer, Ph.D., John Morley, M.D. and Daniel Hoft, M.D., Ph.D., found a 42 percent decreased risk of adult patients developing dementia with a Tdap booster vaccination. 

The research of Kyle McCommis, Ph.D., found that high-fat ketogenic diets might be beneficial in preventing or reversing heart failure linked to a metabolic process. 

As one of 10 Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Units (VTEU) in the country, SLU conducted Phase 3 clinical trials for the Moderna and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Hoft, the director of SLU’s Center for Vaccine Development, told St. Louis Magazine that his team at SLU is hard at work on developing a vaccine to prevent a future coronavirus pandemic by targeting the sequences shared by the viruses which cause SARS, MERS and COVID-19. 

“It’s very possible that next time,” Hoft told the magazine, “we’ll already have a T-cell-targeting vaccine that protects against the next pandemic sitting on the shelf.”

The magazine showcased the work of SLUCare’s Airways and Breathing Clinic and the opening of SLU’s AHEAD Institute. The airways clinic, which opened in 2020, is open to patients with asthma and COPD, but also those facing residual lung issues from a bout of coronavirus.  The Advanced HEAlth Data (AHEAD) Research Institute is a comprehensive center for data-driven innovation and research aimed at improving the health of individuals and populations. 

The selected SLUCare Top Doctor physicians — listed by specialty — are: 

Adult Medicine

Pediatric Medicine

Methodology

In 2021, St. Louis Magazine moved from from Best Doctors, Inc., a database which considers more than 1 million peer evaluations to Castle Connelly’s Top Doctors, a curated list of board-certified U.S. physicians vetted through its rigorous research process.

Every year, Castle Connolly surveys tens of thousands of practicing physicians across the United States to ensure its list always reflects the latest in quality care. After a doctor is nominated, a physician-led research team begins their work to screen each doctor and confirm whether he or she meets Castle Connolly standards.

Castle Connolly evaluates several criteria when selecting Top Doctors, including professional qualifications, education, hospital and faculty appointments, research leadership, professional reputation and disciplinary history. 

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SLUCare Physician Group is the academic medical practice of Saint Louis University, with more than 500 health care providers and 1,200 staff members in hospitals and medical offices throughout the St. Louis region. SLUCare physicians are among the most highly trained in their fields - more than 50 specialties in all - and are national and international experts, renowned for research and innovations in medicine.