The Gulfshore's Best Doctors

Miles sometimes is taken for a descendant of another Hoosier of the same name who moved to Fort Myers: Dr. Franklin Miles, who invented Alka-Seltzer and founded Miles Laboratories in the late 19th century. "That Dr. Miles was no relation to me, but I'm very familiar with him," says Miles, who notes that one patient gave him an antique Miles patent medicine bottle.

Dr. Ronica M. Kluge, Internal Medicine Associates, Bonita Springs

Born in St. Petersburg and a graduate of the University of Florida Medical School, Dr. Ronica M. Kluge came back to Florida in 1990 after working in academic medicine in several states for 17 years. "I decided to have a socially acceptable midlife crisis and change jobs," she says with a laugh.

Several professors inspired Kluge to study infectious diseases, and it's been a satisfying specialty. "First of all, you have to know about all the body systems. You can't concentrate on just one," she says. "And second, most of our patients fortunately have something you can do something about. It's pretty gratifying to be able to fix things."

Kluge has to be a true medical detective, especially in cosmopolitan Southwest Florida. She deals with common infections that can follow surgery, more unusual infections associated with immunodeficiency diseases, and cases involving exotic bacteria brought in from other countries. "You have to keep your brain working all the time so you don't miss anything," she says. "I work with a group of four other infectious-disease people and it's really quite nice because we get a chance to bounce ideas off one another."

Kluge's hobbies include studying orchids, listening to jazz, blues, rock and other music, and hiking and off-road four-wheeling in Telluride, Colorado, during the summer.

Dr. Cynthia R. Strohmeyer, Dermatology Specialists of Naples

A Louisiana native, Dr. Cynthia R. Strohmeyer graduated from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine. She chose cosmetic dermatology as her specialty because she's a "very visual person," she says. After post-doctoral training at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, she moved to Naples nearly 12 years ago with her husband, Jon (also on this list), a facial plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist.

The things that brought Strohmeyer to Naples-"the beautiful weather and the Gulf Coast"-also bring patients to her practice. "The majority of what I do relates to sun exposure," she says. She treats her clients (90 percent are women, mostly 30 to 60 years old) with a variety of procedures "to improve the appearance of the skin without doing a surgical procedure like a facelift": botox and collagen injections, and laser treatments for hair removal and skin beautification. "The fun of the practice is that I'm making people look better with minimally invasive procedures," she says.

"We strive to make everybody not only look better but feel better," she adds, noting that she's modeled her new office after a tin-roofed Key West home. The Strohmeyers' own lifestyle is far from laid-back, however; they keep busy with their separate practices, their three children--ages 9, 8 and 5-and by donating time and medical supplies to St. Luke's Clinic in the Bahamas, which they visit three or four times a year.

Dr. Anthony M. Vernava III, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Naples

As a child Dr. Anthony M. Vernava III lived in New York, Detroit and Chicago while his father worked at different universities as an academic attorney. As an adult, the son has followed his father's peripatetic and academic ways. After obtaining his medical degree from the St. Louis University Medical School, Vernava became a colorectal surgeon and full professor of medicine at St. Louis University. Along the way, fellowships took him to places as disparate as Tokyo's National Cancer Center and London's St. Mark's Hospital.

Prevention and treatment of colon cancer play a big part in Vernava's practice. More than 50,000 Americans die of the disease every year, making it the biggest cause of cancer-related death in the United States after lung cancer. That shouldn't be. "It's entirely preventable by being screened," says Vernava, who notes that removal of precancerous polyps nearly always is successful in treating the disease. Screening should begin at age 50 for most adults but earlier for those with close relatives who have had the disease, he says.

After leaving academia for a year in private practice, Vernava accepted a position in 1999 with the new Cleveland Clinic Florida in Naples, where he's a staff surgeon in the Department of Colorectal Surgery and director of Research and Education. Attracted by the area-"the weather is fabulous and the people are very nice," he says-he also wanted the opportunity to help "put together a medical center from scratch." Vernava makes his home in Naples with his wife, Rene, and their two children, Anthony, 7, and Maria, 4.

Second Opinions

Dr. Carlos Caballero, a Southwest Florida internist, tells a true story about an emergency room patient who had a ruptured appendix.

After examining the patient, the surgeon announced, "I need to do an exploratory in the next hour." The patient hesitated. "Gee, doc, I'd like to get a second opinion," he said. The doctor left the room, spun on his heel, walked right back in and said: "This is your second opinion: If you don't go in the operating room you're going to die."

Fortunately, most of us aren't faced with such medical emergencies. We have time to get a second opinion, and Caballero assures us that in cases where major surgery or complicated treatment is recommended, physicians are usually happy to refer patients to colleagues for second opinions.

"If the patient isn't comfortable, or doesn't understand, I strongly encourage seeing another doctor," says Dr. Paul Gluck, an OB/GYN based in Miami and an executive board member of the National Patient Safety Foundation. Supporting a patient's desire to seek a second opinion helps establish essential trust and rapport between patients and doctors, Gluck says, although nine times out of 10, the second doctor agrees with the first. In fact, insurance companies stopped requiring second opinions before major surgery because it came to be seen as futile and expensive, Gluck says.

But for cancer survivor Susan Scherr, a second opinion was no formality; it saved her life.

When Scherr-now the director of program development for the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship-developed a rare and virulent uterine cancer 14 years ago, she was determined to fight. Dismissing the initial gloomy prognosis that gave her little time to live, Scherr took to the road, visiting in rapid succession her gynecologist, an oncologist and researchers at the National Cancer Institute, asking questions, comparing treatments and physicians' attitudes. That's how she found the aggressive gynecological oncologist who successfully treated her with simultaneous radiation and chemotherapy.

Now, Scherr adamantly counsels people to see second opinions as their right. "It is fine to say, 'I'm going to get a second opinion. Is there somebody you recommend?'" Scherr says. Often, the attending physician can recommend a specialist; other sources are research centers, universities, referral services and medical and cancer organizations.

"Medical science is such that no one physician can keep up to date on everything," says W. Michael Alberts, chief medical officer at the H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, where half the caseload comprises second opinions. Although tight resources have lately led to long lines and waiting times for second-opinion seekers at many major cancer facilities, Alberts says all pressing cases are seen within two weeks at Moffit, with a longer wait for less urgent cases.

The tenacity can be worth it; just ask Scherr. "We only have one life," Scherr says. "They (patients) owe it to themselves and their loved ones to make the best shot at getting the best information."

These lists are excerpted from The Best Doctors in America database, which includes approximately 30,000 doctors in more than 40 medical specialties.

The Best Doctors in America database is compiled and maintained by Best Doctors Inc., of Aiken, S.C. For more information, visit www.bestdoctors.com, or contact Best Doctors by telephone (888-DOCTORS) or by e-mail (info@bestdoctors.com).

Best Doctors Inc. has used its best efforts in assembling material for this list but does not warrant that the information contained herein is complete or accurate, and does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions herein whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

Copyright 2001 by Best Doctors Inc., Aiken, S.C. All rights reserved. This list, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission. No commercial use of the information in this list may be made without permission of Best Doctors Inc. No fees may be charged, directly or indirectly, for the use of the information in this list without permission.