92 articles
Obstetrics and gynecology
Obstetrics and gynecology (ob-gyn, OB/GYN) is the medical specialty covering pregnancy, childbirth, and the female reproductive system; ACOG, founded 1951, is its main US body, with the Green and Gray Journals as flagships.
Occupational therapist
Occupational therapist (OT): autonomous health professional helping people with injuries, illness, or disabilities perform daily living and work activities. Profession founded 1917; WFOT sets global education standards; US median pay $100,330, 15% projected growth 2025–2035.
Oncologists
Oncologists are physicians specializing in cancer care, spanning medical oncology (drug therapy), radiation oncology (radiotherapy), and surgical oncology; training, roles, workforce numbers, and global access disparities.
Ophthalmologists
Ophthalmologists, or eye M.D.s, are medical doctors specializing in medical and surgical eye care; distinct from optometrists (O.D.), they train via residency and fellowship, hold ABO certification, and face projected global workforce shortfalls.
Optometrists
Optometrists are eye care professionals holding the Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) degree who examine eyes, prescribe lenses and medications, and refer complex disease; scope of practice varies by jurisdiction.
Orthopedic Surgeons
Orthopedic surgeons (orthopedists) are physicians treating skeletal, joint, and musculoskeletal disorders by medical, surgical, and physical means. Named from Andry's 1741 term; about 14 years of training; subspecialties from spine to sports medicine.
Osteopathic Physicians
Osteopathic physicians (DOs) are fully licensed U.S. physicians trained in osteopathic medicine, founded by A.T. Still in 1874; they prescribe, perform surgery, practice all specialties, and comprise about 11% of U.S. physicians.
Otolaryngologists
Otolaryngologists (ENT doctors) are head and neck surgeon-physicians treating ear, nose, throat, and related conditions. Five-year residency, ABOHNS certification, subspecialties including neurotology and pediatric otolaryngology.
Palliative care
Palliative care: WHO-defined approach relieving physical, psychosocial, and spiritual suffering in life-threatening illness; founded via Cicely Saunders's 1967 St Christopher's Hospice; only 14% of the 56.8 million in need receive it.
Paul C. Brucker
Paul C. Brucker (circa 1931 to 2017) was an American family physician and academic who founded Jefferson's Department of Family Medicine in 1973 and led Thomas Jefferson University from 1990 to 2004.
Pediatric hematology and oncology
Pediatric hematology and oncology is the medical subspecialty diagnosing and treating childhood blood disorders and cancers. Related journal: Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (ISSN 0888-0018), published since 1986 by Taylor & Francis.
Pediatricians
Pediatricians are physicians specializing in the physical, mental, and social health of children from birth to young adulthood, trained via 4 years of medical school plus at least 3 years of pediatric residency; the US had 77,792 certified pediatricians in 2020.
Pediatrics
Pediatrics, also known as pediatric medicine, is the medical specialty caring for children from birth through young adulthood, covering both preventive care and treatment of illness.
Peter Rosen
Peter Rosen (1935–2019) was an American emergency physician regarded as a founding father of emergency medicine, who founded two residencies and edited Rosen's Emergency Medicine.
Physical medicine and rehabilitation
Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R, physiatry) is the medical specialty restoring function in nerve, muscle, bone, and brain disorders. Recognized as a US specialty in 1947; shaped by war, polio, and Baruch philanthropy.
Podiatrist
Podiatrist: licensed health care professional treating foot, ankle, and lower extremity pathology, historically called chiropodist. Key facts: APMA lineage from 1912, 15,181 US podiatrists (2026), central role in diabetic foot care and foot/ankkle surgery.
Podiatry
Podiatry: medical specialty of the foot, ankle, and lower leg; practitioners hold the DPM degree in the US (about 18,000 practicing), regulated as podiatrists or chiropodists in the UK, and central to diabetic foot care.
Primary Care Physicians
Primary care physicians (PCPs, family physicians, general practitioners) are specialists in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, or geriatrics providing first-contact, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated care and gatekeeping access to specialists.
Priscilla Chan
Priscilla Chan is an American pediatrician and philanthropist who co-founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2015. She earned her medical degree at UCSF.
Radiologists
Radiologists: physicians who diagnose and treat disease using medical imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI, PET, ultrasound). Diagnostic and interventional branches; 13+ years training; major workforce shortages in the US and UK.
Rheumatologists
Rheumatologists are internal medicine subspecialists who diagnose and treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases of joints, muscles, and connective tissues; US projections show severe workforce shortages, especially in nonmetropolitan areas.
Rheumatology
Rheumatology is the medical specialty concerned with the investigation, diagnosis, and management of arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions, including autoimmune and inflammatory diseases of joints, bones, and connective tissue.
Richard E. Behrman
Richard E. Behrman was an American pediatrician and neonatologist who earned the first US board certification in neonatology and edited the Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.
Robert Darwin
Robert Waring Darwin (1766–1848), Shrewsbury physician, Edinburgh medical alumnus, father of Charles Darwin; wealthy diagnostician, Wedgwood marriage, funded the Beagle voyage.
Robert E. Cooke
Robert E. Cooke, or Robert Edmond Cooke (1920–2014), was an American pediatrician who chaired pediatrics at Johns Hopkins for 17 years and helped create the NICHD and Project Head Start.
Robert W. Neumar
Robert W. Neumar is an American physician-scientist in emergency medicine and resuscitation science, a professor at the University of Michigan elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015.
Sean Barbabella
Sean P. Barbabella, Navy captain and osteopathic emergency and tactical medicine physician, is Physician to the President since March 7, 2025, succeeding Kevin O'Connor; Purple Heart and Legion of Merit recipient who authored Trump's 2025 health memos.
Sports medicine
Sports medicine, also called sport and exercise medicine (SEM), is the medical specialty for preventing, diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating sports and exercise injuries, in athletes and nonathletes alike.
Terry L. Vanden Hoek
Terry L. Vanden Hoek is an American emergency physician who heads Emergency Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023.
Theodore Corbin
Theodore Corbin is an American emergency medicine physician who chairs emergency medicine at RUSH University Medical Center and designed the Healing Hurt People violence-recovery program.