Tips and primers for navigating our industry-leading yearly issue.
Pediatric Subspecialties
Several years ago, PHOENIX editors carved out a special section for 30 different pediatric subspecialties, from allergy and immunology to urology. Find these specialized physicians in the Children’s Health section (pages 198-201) alongside our list of mainline pediatricians.
Top Vote-Getters
Though specific vote totals are undisclosed, PHOENIX does indicate which doctors accrue the most votes in their respective specialties, with a red asterisk. If more than one asterisk appears in a given specialty, it was a tie for the most votes.
Top Docs Milestones
To give readers a truer scope of a given physician’s body of work, we indicate which doctors have appeared on 10 or more and 20 or more lists, with icons next to their names. The full list of 10- and 20-year Top Docs can be found on page 232.
Enhanced The Big 5
Readers and physicians alike have noted that our Top Docs lists are often weighted toward doctors in the high-volume medical corridors of Phoenix and Scottsdale, to the detriment of East and West Valley communities. To address the imbalance, we tallied the votes for the five largest primary specialties – internal medicine, family medicine, OB/GYN, cardiovascular disease and pediatrics – independently by region, setting a minimum quota of three doctors in each. Our rationale: Though patients are perfectly happy to drive across the Valley for the best highly specialized oncologist or plastic surgeon, they’d prefer to have a primary-care doctor nearby.
Stats M.D.
14,115
Total M.D.s, D.0.s and podiatrists currently practicing in the Valley
105
Number of first-time Top Docs in 2025
23 years
Current longest Top Docs “winning streak,” jointly held by internist Nolawi Mengesha and oncologist David Paul
61.3% Male Docs
38.7 Female Docs
In Absentia
These respected healers and Top Doctors honorees left the community of practicing Valley physicians since our last issue.
Randall Tozer MD
Ophthalmology
2003, 2005-2014, 2016,
2018-2022, 2024
One of our all-time most decorated eye docs, the Southern Illiinois Univerity-educated healer co-founded the Tozer Lee Eye Center and enjoyed a 40-year career before retiring last year. His son, Kevin, is also an ophthalmologist and continues to run the clinic.
Satish Namjoshi MD
Pediatrics
2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022
“I am looking forward to spending time with my family and grandchildren in California,” the Scottsdale pediatrician wrote in a sign-off to patients after retiring in 2024.
Marc Staman
Internal medicine/Hospital medicine
1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006-2010, 2020
“When Dr. Staman began practicing medicine in 1981, the term ‘hospitalist’ didn’t exist,” reads his bio. Working with neurosurgeons, the U of A-educated internist helped pioneer the field at Barrow Neurological Institute. He retired in 2024 after 42 years in practice.
Anthony Yeung
Orthopedic surgery of the spine
2011
Educated at the University of New Mexico, the spine surgeon made massive contributions to his field during a near-50-year career, developing the FDA-approved Yeung Endoscopic Spine System (YESS) to locate pain sources. He retired in 2024.
Stats M.D.
