Texas Monthly magazine annual honor includes four from Spine Team Texas
MSP Communications, researcher and publisher of Rising Stars™ Super Doctors, employs a rigorous, multi-step process to select physicians for inclusion in their annual publication that recognizes a diverse pool of medical doctors over various specialties. This year, Spine Team Texas is proud to announce Anthony P. Berg, M.D., Michael D. Garcia, M.D., Cortland K. Miller, M.D., and Amit T. Darnule, M.D., are included in this exclusive designation.
“What makes Rising Stars such a significant achievement is the detailed selection criteria,” said Mark Hood, C.E.O. of Spine Team Texas. “Not only are physicians vetted for professional accomplishments, they must also have attained peer recognition during the relatively brief period of time they’ve been in practice.” To be eligible for inclusion in Rising Stars, candidates must be active physicians who have been fully-licensed to practice for approximately 10 years or less. Candidates are evaluated over 10 areas including fellowships, professional activities, leadership positions, board certifications, honors and awards. While approximately 5 percent of the physicians within Texas are named to Super Doctors, no more than 2.5 percent are named to the Rising Stars list.
Each year MSP Communications invites doctors to nominate colleagues they know to be exceptional in their specified field. Physicians are posed this question: If you needed medical care in one of the following specialties, which doctor would you choose? Numerous safeguards are in place to prevent ballot manipulation and doctors may not self-nominate. Their research staff then searches medical databases, online sources, and publications for doctors who have attained certain credentials, honors or professional achievements.
Nominees are then grouped into specialties and those with the highest scores from the nomination and evaluation steps are invited to serve on a “blue ribbon panel.” Each panelist reviews and evaluates a list of nominees from his/her area of focus. Finally points are tallied with only the highest-scoring doctors included on the Super Doctors and Rising Stars lists. The research staff also independently reviews the discipline record of each candidate before publication and verifies that the doctor is active and in good standing.
Bios of the Rising Stars™ from Spine Team Texas:
Anthony P. Berg, MD | Spine Pain Anesthesiologist
As a spine pain anesthesiologist, Dr. Berg, a partner at Spine Team Texas, offers nonsurgical relief for acute and chronic spine pain. Prior to joining the team, Dr. Berg completed his residency in Anesthesiology at the University of Iowa and his fellowship
in Interventional Pain Management at Wake Forest University School of Medicine – Carolinas Pain Institute in Winston Salem, North Carolina. He also served as an investigator at the Center for Clinical Research, a well-respected institution conducting research for those in chronic pain.
Michael D. Garcia, M.D. | Physiatrist, specializing in acute spine pain
Dr. Garcia is a fellowship-trained physiatrist who specializes in the nonsurgical relief of back and neck pain. His focus is on diagnosing, managing and interventionally treating spine disorders and musculoskeletal dysfunction. He completed his fellowship in spine and sports medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, where he also completed his residency. He attended The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where he earned his medical degree after completing his undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University.
Cortland K. Miller, M.D. | Physiatrist, specializing in acute spine pain and diagnostics
Dr. Miller is a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, specializing in acute spine pain management and diagnostics at Spine Team Texas. He previously worked as a physician with a focus on occupational medicine. Dr. Miller received his medical degree from Ohio State University after graduating magna cum laude at Ball State University in Indiana. He completed his residency at Emory University, which deemed him Resident of the Year in 2007. During his residency, Dr. Miller served as a representative for the prestigious Graduate Medical Education Committee.
Amit T. Darnule, M.D. | Spine Pain Anesthesiologist
Dr. Darnule is a fellowship-trained physician who specializes in chronic spine pain management. Prior to joining Spine Team Texas, he completed his fellowship for multidisciplinary pain medicine at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, where he also completed his residency in anesthesiology and an internship in internal medicine. Dr. Darnule finished medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston, graduating summa cum laude.
