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Best Doctors Close-Up

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Dr. Roger C. Cornell

As senior consultant at Scripps Clinic and clinical professor of dermatology at UCSD, Roger Cornell literally practices what he preaches. For 30 years, he’s brought hundreds of dermatology residents and medical students up to date on the latest techniques and procedures in skin care. During those three decades, he’s also treated a steady stream of patients from all walks of life—including some high-profile sports, entertainment and political clients.

They’re certainly in good hands: Cornell, 65, has won numerous awards and is widely published, with more than 80 publications to his credit on topics ranging from topical steroids in dermatology to the use of Interferon and other drugs in the treatment of skin cancer.

Still, Cornell says, he’s most content when he’s treating patients. “I get a lot of satisfaction from that—to take a patient who’s having problems and make them better,” he says. “I don’t do much in the way of cosmetic surgery; I do what is called medical dermatology, which consists of treating skin conditions that may have an internal component, and I also treat a lot of skin cancer.”

Cornell has very specific ideas on what constitutes a good doctor, and his description happens to be in perfect sync with what others say about him. “A good doctor is somebody who is compassionate, somebody who is willing to take the time to listen,” he says. “It’s more difficult now than it was when I started; I used to see one patient every 30 minutes, and now it’s one patient every 15 minutes, or even less.”

Still, Cornell says, “Care is actually better today, because we have better diagnostic tools and better resources, including the Internet. Patients may feel a doctor isn’t listening, but we understand a lot more.”

Cornell was born and raised in Hawaii. He graduated from Stanford University Medical School and interned at New York Hospital. In the mid-1960s, he was drafted into the Air Force and served four years as a general medical officer in Greenland, Germany and Vietnam.

On the way back from Vietnam, Cornell spent a week in San Diego and liked it so much he decided to continue his training here, completing residencies in internal medicine and then dermatology at UCSD. He began working for Scripps Clinic in 1973.

In addition to teaching and treating, Cornell is involved in a long-range Air Force study on the effects of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

Cornell also has spent many hours in volunteer work. In the 1980s, he worked with needy HIV patients at the Owen Clinic at UCSD; he also gave his time to the Logan Heights Family Health Center.

“Volunteerism is important,” Cornell says. “There are a lot of people out there without the resources to get proper medical care, and if you’re in a position to help, you almost owe it to yourself—and to your profession—to do what you can.”

—Thomas K. Arnold

Dr. Theodore Ganiats

He’s a leading practitioner of family medicine in San Diego—a medical jack-of-all-trades. A generation ago, he would have delivered babies and set broken arms and come out to the house when one of the kids came down with strep throat, his black bag in hand and stethoscope slung around his neck like a medal of honor.

Meet Dr. Theodore Ganiats, a simple “M.D.” after his name, who proudly carries on in the general practitioner tradition. Well, not exactly.

“In the 1960s, the GP was dying; everyone was a specialist,” says Ganiats, who, in addition to seeing patients, is professor of family and preventive medicine at the UCSD School of Medicine. “The problem was that patients began to want someone who cared for them, not just their organs.”

So there emerged a new breed of doctor—the family physician. Ganiats explains the difference: “The GP is a doctor who does a one-year internship after medical school. A family physician does a three-year residency and then passes a board certification exam—the same exact process as an internist, for example. Thus, a family physician is a specialist, but a doctor who specializes in the person, or family.”

At UCSD, Ganiats—who looks more like a cross between Harrison Ford and Gregory Peck than the grandfatherly “doc” of 1950s sitcoms—has a heavy teaching load that includes pre-med students, medical students and residents, in addition to master’s and Ph.D. students. Most of his teaching involves clinical lessons for medical students or instruction in “outcomes research”—how to evaluate the positive and negative effects, usually from the patient’s perspective, of medical interventions.

The latter also forms the basis for Ganiats’ research efforts. He is executive director of the UCSD Health Outcomes Assessment Program and codirector of the San Diego Center for Patient Safety. He has served on more than 25 committees that developed national clinical guidelines and quality-of-care measures.

Ganiats, 50, was born and raised in Northern California but received his medical training in San Diego. He graduated from UCSD’s medical school and then the UCSD Family Medicine Residency Program, where he also served as chief resident. Ganiats joined the UCSD faculty in 1981 and has since served in many capacities. Earlier, he headed family medicine teaching activities and, for 12 years, was chief of family medicine.

Now he focuses on teaching, research and seeing patients. “I’ve cared for some families for more than 20 years,” he says. One disappointment is that he stopped delivering babies six years ago, although he’s managed to keep a hand in the past by continuing to see the last baby he delivered.

“I just saw her for her 6-year-old exam,” he says, his eyes twinkling. “She’s sure grown.”

—Thomas K. Arnold

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