Two hundred seventy-seven (277) UNC Health Care physicians are included in the latest compilation of The Best Doctors in America® database.

In addition, many of these doctors are also listed in the December 2012 issue of Business North Carolina Magazine, as part of its annual compilation North Carolina’s Best Doctors.

Only about 5 percent of physicians in the U.S. are included in the Best Doctors database. The Best Doctors database contains the names and professional affiliations of more than 45,000 doctors in the United States, all chosen through an exhaustive peer-review survey that asks: “If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty, to whom would you refer them?” The peer review process as well as additional research conducted by Best Doctors determines selections for each list.

The five UNC Eye Ophthalmologists included in a group of 277 UNC physicians listed in the Best Doctors database are:

• Donald L. Budenz, M.D., M.P.H. - Professor and Chairman (Glaucoma)
• Kenneth L. Cohen, M.D. - Professor (Cataract and Intraocular Lens Implant Surgery, Corneal Transplant Surgery and External Diseases of the Eye)
• Jonathan J. Dutton, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S. - Professor (Ophthalmic Oncology, Ocuplastic Reconstructive Techniques)
• W. Craig Fowler, M.D. - Associate Professor (Cornea Transplantation, Cataract Surgery, Laser Vision Correction Surgery, External Eye Disease and Anterior Segment)
• Travis A. Meredith, M.D. - Professor & Chairman Emeritus (Medical Retina, Diabetic Retinopathy, Macular Degeneration)

Best Doctors, Inc. is based in Boston and provides highly specialized medical services to nearly 10 million people in over 30 countries. Best Doctors’ global database is updated continuously through a peer-review based evaluation of the medical profession, and includes 50,000 doctors worldwide named “best,” in over 40 specialties and 400 subspecialties of medicine. Best Doctors, Best Doctors in America and the star-in-cross logo are registered trademarks of Best Doctors, Inc. in the United States and other countries, and are used under license.