FAQ: Find a Doctor

Question: Where can I find a doctor who specializes in treating specific diseases or conditions?

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Answer:

To find doctors who treat specific diseases or conditions, we suggest the following:

• Web Sites
• Telephone Suggestions
• Print Directories
• Contact an Author of a Journal Article

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Web Sites

• - MedlinePlus® :
  
  
  • Directories of doctors, dentists, hospitals and other healthcare professionals and facilities
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/directories.html
    
    
  • MedlinePlus Go Local
    Resources in local areas of the US - by state or region
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/golocal/index.html
    
    
  • Choosing a Doctor or Health Care Service
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/choosingadoctororhealthcareservice.html
    
    
  • Managed Care
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/managedcare.html
  
  
• NIH Word on Health: Choosing a Doctor
  http://www.nih.gov/news/WordonHealth/apr2003/doctorchoosing.htm
  
  
• American Board of Medical Specialties: Is Your Doctor Board Certified?
  http://www.abms.org/Who_We_Help/Consumers/verifying.aspx
  
  
• Docfinder: Association of State Medical Board Executive Directors
  http://www.docboard.org/docfinder.html
  
  
• Directory of State Medical Boards
  http://www.fsmb.org/directory_smb.html
  
  
• Medicare Participating Physician Directory
  http://www2.medicare.gov/Physician/Search/PhysicianSearch.asp
  

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Telephone Suggestions - Call:

• Your local county or state medical society for names of doctors and their specialties
  http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/7630.html
  
  
• A hospital for names of doctors who treat specific diseases or conditions
  
  
• Your doctor and ask for a recommendation to a specialist
  
  
• Your insurance provider for a list of approved doctors and specialists
  
  

You can also look in your local telephone book under "Physicians."

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Print Directories

• Print directories are often in public, university or medical libraries. Ask your local librarian for help. You could also call the NLM National Network of Libraries of Medicine® at 1-800-338-7657 to help you find a local library.
  http://nnlm.gov/members/
  

Contact an Author of a Journal Article

Search MEDLINE/PubMed, http://pubmed.gov, for current medical journal articles on a specific disease or condition. This can help you find researchers, hospitals and medical schools with certain specialties. Look for the author's contact information.

NOTE: the contact e-mail or mail address for an author may not be up to date.

1. Search for the author name in PubMed® and look for the most recent article where your author is the first author.
   
   
2. Choose the "Abstract" view under "Display."
   
   
3. Look for the institution address under the list of author names. This is the affiliation of the primary author at the time the article went to press. Use a Web search engine to find the institution's Web page and look for a staff directory. Sometimes you may be able to find an e-mail address or phone number for a researcher.
   
   
4. Open a full-text article, if possible. Some full-text articles will list the institutional address of each individual author. This list may also include a name and e-mail address of a designated "correspondent" for that article.
   
   

For more information about searching by author name, go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=helppubmed&part=pubmedhelp#pubmedhelp.Searching_by_author .

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Related Questions:

• FAQ: Reference & Consumer Health Questions

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http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/doctor.html

Last reviewed: 29 July 2009
Last updated: 29 July 2009
First published: 01 January 1998
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanence Not Guaranteed

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