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Nearly 150 UCI Health doctors among 2019 Physicians of Excellence in Orange Coast magazine

List includes more doctors than any other Orange County hospital, health system

December 26, 2018
Nearly 150 UCI Health doctors have been named 2019 Physicians of Excellence, more than that of any other health system in Orange County.
The Orange County Medical Association has recognized nearly 150 UCI Health doctors as 2019 Physicians of Excellence, more than that of any other health system in Orange County.

Nearly 150 UCI Health doctors have been named to the 2019 Physicians of Excellence list published in the January 2019 edition of Orange Coast magazine, more than that of any other health system in Orange County.

The recognition is bestowed by the Orange County Medical Association, a voluntary physician organization that exists to promote the art and science of medicine, the protection of public health and the betterment of the medical profession.

“The UCI Health reputation for providing innovative care rests with these physicians’ tireless dedication and their daily collaboration with our excellent nurses and staff,” said Richard J. Gannotta, CEO, UCI Health System. “The Orange County Medical Association’s recognition reflects the fact that only at UCI will you find as many physicians at the top of their specialty to provide the best care available, both in the hospital and in outpatient settings.”

The complete list includes more than 500 Orange County physicians in 65 specialties. The magazine is on newsstands now.

This year, UCI Health received a ninth consecutive top grade for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group and was listed among America’s Best Hospitals for the 18th year in a row by U.S. News & World Report. The publication rated UCI Health programs among the top 50 nationally in gynecology, No. 20, and urology, No. 33.

UCI Health doctors practice across the region, in addition to the UCI Medical Center in Orange. Primary and specialty care locations include the Gottschalk Medical Plaza in Irvine and offices in Costa Mesa, Tustin, Yorba Linda, Orange, Placentia and Corona.

In coastal Orange County, UCI Health specialty care in cancer, breast health, digestive diseases, plastic surgery, neurosurgery and dermatology is available at the Pacific Medical Plaza in Costa Mesa and Newport. Urology, executive health, behavioral health and sleep medicine services are available at the UCI Health Newport — Birch Street office, which opened in 2018.

To be eligible for OCMA recognition, physicians were required to:

  • Be certified by a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, a member board of the American Board of Osteopathic Medical Specialties, or an equivalency board recognized by the Medical Board of California or Osteopathic Medical Board of California
  • Be in good standing with the Medical Board of California or Osteopathic Medical Board of California
  • Maintain a primary practice in Orange County for the last five years
  • Be in practice within his/her specialty for the last five years

Physicians were required to demonstrate achievements in at least two of the following criteria: physician leadership; teaching/mentoring; medical research/scientific advances; and humanitarian service.

UCI Health comprises the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Patients can access UCI Health at primary and specialty care offices across Orange County and at its main campus, UCI Medical Center in Orange, California. The 417-bed acute care hospital provides tertiary and quaternary care, ambulatory and specialty medical clinics, and behavioral health and rehabilitation services. UCI Medical Center is home to Orange County’s only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

UCI Health Physicians of Excellence for 2019:

Allergy and Immunology
Donald S. Levy, MD

Anesthesiology
Kyle S. Ahn, MD
Scott A. Engwall, MD
Kimberly M. Gimenez, MD
Anna L. Harris, MD
Richard J. Kelly, MD
Debra E. Morrison, MD
Corey K. Nelson, MD
Shalini S. Shah, MD
Shermeen B. Vakharia, MD
Trung Q. Vu, MD

Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine
Minh-Ha Tran, DO

Cardiovascular Disease
Byron J. Allen, MD
Jin K. Kim, MD
Shaista Malik, MD
Pranav M. Patel, MD
Satinder Swaroop, MD

Child Psychiatry
Anju Hurria, MD

Dermatology
Kristen M. Kelly, MD
Patrick K. Lee, MD

Diagnostic Radiology
Arash Anavim, MD
Joseph E. Burns, MD
Allen J. Cohen, MD
Stephen A. Feig, MD
Mayil S. Krishnam, MD

Emergency Medicine
Michael J. Burns, MD
John C. Fox, MD
Wirachin Hoonpongsimanont, MD
Robert J. Katzer, MD
Mark I. Langdorf, MD
Shahram Lotfipour, MD
Megan B. Osborn, MD
Warren Wiechmann, MD

Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Andrew R. Reikes, MD

Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Brian J. F. Wong, MD

Family Medicine
Tan Q. Nguyen, MD
Charles P. Vega, MD
Emily Dow, MD

Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery
Felicia L. Lane, MD

Gastroenterology
Kenneth J. Chang, MD
John G. Lee, MD
Nimisha K. Parekh, MD

Geriatric Medicine
Sonia R. Sehgal, MD
Steven P. Tam, MD

Gynecologic Oncology
Robert E. Bristow, MD
Kristine R. Penner, MD
Leslie M. Randall, MD
Krishnansu Tewari, MD

Hematology
Richard A. Van Etten, MD

Internal Medicine
Susan M. Heller, MD
Ke-Qin Hu, MD
Sonali L. Iyer, MD
Bavani Nadeswaran, MD
Maryam Rahimi, MD

Internal Medicine with a focused practice in Hospital Medicine
Alpesh N. Amin, MD

Interventional Radiology and Diagnostic Radiology
Kari J. Nelson, MD

Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Judith H. Chung, MD
Afshan B. Hameed, MD
Tamera J. Hatfield, MD
Carol A. Major, MD
Manuel Porto, MD
Julianne S. Toohey, MD

Medical Oncology
Edward L. Nelson, MD
Jason A. Zell, DO

Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Muhammad Aslam, MD
Rebecca J. Coleman, MD
Courtney Merchant, MD
Fayez M. Bany-Mohammed, MD
Yona Nicolau, MD
Cherry Uy, MD

Nephrology
Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, MD
Hamid Moradi, MD
Madeleine Pahl, MD

Neurology
Yama Akbari, MD
Daniela A. Bota, MD
Cyrus K. Dastur, MD
Mark J. Fisher, MD
Namita A. Goyal, MD
Neal Hermanowicz, MD
Lilit Mnatsakanyan, MD
Tahseen Mozaffar, MD
Mona Sazgar, MD
Steven L. Small, MD

Nuclear Medicine
Tatiana Kain, MD

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Laura E. Fitzmaurice, MD
Tabetha R. Harken, MD
Christine Kim, MD
Michael Krychman, MD
Jennefer A. Russo, MD
Vasiliki Tatsis, MD

Ophthalmology
Anand B. Bhatt, MD
Marjan Farid, MD
Sumit (Sam) Garg, MD
Baruch D. Kuppermann, MD
Robert W. Lingua, MD
Stephanie Y. Lu, MD
Sameh Mosaed, MD
Jennifer L. Simpson, MD
Jeremiah P. Tao, MD
Matthew W. Wade, MD

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
William B. Armstrong, MD
Naveen D. Bhandarkar, MD
Roger L. Crumley, MD
Hamid R. Djalilian, MD
Harrison W. Lin, MD
Sunil P. Verma, MD

Pathology
Sherif A. Rezk, MD

Pediatric Cardiology
Anjan S. Batra, MD

Pediatrics
Behnoosh Afghani, MD
Lynn Hunt, MD
Penny R. Murata, MD
Leticia C. Oliveros, MD
Varalakshmi Y. Reddy, MD

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Danielle P. Karimi, MD

Plastic Surgery
Gregory Evans, MD
Daniel C. Jaffurs, MD
Keyianoosh Z. Paydar, MD

Psychiatry
Rimal B. Bera, MD
Robert G. Bota, MD
Lawrence R. Faziola, MD
Andrei Novac, MD

Pulmonary Medicine
Steven B. Leven, MD

Radiation Oncology
Parima Daroui, MD

Rheumatology
Roger Kornu, MD
Dan A. Mandel, MD

Surgery
Cristobal Barrios Jr., MD
Nicole P. Bernal, MD
Matthew O. Dolich, MD
David K. Imagawa, MD
Allen P. Kong, MD
Michael E. Lekawa, MD
Ninh T. Nguyen, MD
Brian R. Smith, MD

Surgery, Colon and Rectal
Joseph C. Carmichael, MD
Steven D. Mills, MD
Michael J. Stamos, MD

Surgery, Neurological
Frank P.K. Hsu
Mark E. Linskey, MD

Surgery, Orthopedic
Nitin N. Bhatia, MD
John A. Scolaro, MD

Urology
Thomas E. Ahlering, MD
Ralph V. Clayman, MD
Joel Gelman, MD
Gamal M. Ghoniem, MD
Mark L. Jordan, MD
Jaime Landman, MD
Melvin L. Seard, II, MD
Edward Uchio, MD