Meet the Doctor

All in the Family

Today's primary care physicians are more likely to be internists than old-fashioned general practitioners; and Dr. Manuel Del Sol says that makes sense, since a good internist knows when to consult his colleagues. Del Sol is with Internal Medicine Associates, a group of 29 physicians that includes specialists in infectious disease, pulmonary medicine and more.

Del Sol says he views his patients as "family" (he gets calls from kids away at college and sometimes receives three pies a week from grateful patients). "I don't look at them as patients, but friends," he says. And he sees many multi-generational families in his practice. That elevates everybody's care, he says. For example, when he knows that a 30-year-old patient's grandmother has diabetes, sudden weight gain sounds an alarm.

His family history includes a love for medicine. Del Sol, whose parents and extended family emigrated from Cuba in the early 1960s, has several cousins who are physicians, and he was always fascinated by their careers. At age 26, he had a wife, two young daughters and a successful career in finance when he decided on medical school. And one of his three daughters, at 14, has already set her sights on medicine.

Miracle Worker

The 14-year-old South Fort Myers' fertility and reproductive endocrinology practice of Dr. Craig Sweet has its warm and fuzzy side, as reflected in the name of his Web site, www.dreamababy.com. But in truth, he says, his specialty is "a bit of a mind-bender," encompassing sometimes-controversial issues, including in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy and more.

Such advances often outpace directives from clergy and the judiciary, leaving doctors to rely on their own consciences. Physicians can now prescreen embryos for gender and vulnerability to certain diseases. Recently Sweet implanted a healthy male embryo in a woman who had lost a son. Although it is not yet a matter of choosing an embryo "for blond hair and blue eyes," he says, that is an issue he'll eventually have to face.

Most couples who see him have medical issues that can be resolved fairly easily. Others decide to adopt, or they move on to specialized procedures. Earlier this year, Sweet was able to freeze the ovarian tissue of a 19-year-old cancer patient, trusting that by the time she's ready to have children, technology will allow for its use. Soon, he predicts, freezing and banking eggs will change the face of fertility.

Battle of the Bugs

If your family doctor refers you to an infectious disease specialist, it doesn't always mean you may have the kind of superbug of which Hollywood thrillers are made. It's a misconception that her specialty "deals with rare or exotic conditions," says Naples physician Christine Forszpaniak. Instead, patients with common infections are referred to her for other reasons, ranging from outpatient antibiotic therapy to treatment with medications not in their physicians' standard arsenals. Doctors also call on her when diseases prove persistent or difficult to diagnose.

Forszpaniak, who has a solo practice near Naples Community Hospital, has been in Naples for 15 years. Last year she was voted NCH Healthcare System's Physician of the Year, becoming the first woman to hold the title. The honor raised her public profile, but she remains more comfortable out of the spotlight, focusing on a field that is never dull. "Infectious agents are constantly changing, presenting in new ways and posing new challenges," Forszpaniak says.

And the ease of global travel has made it difficult to confine pandemics and diseases. "Distance is no longer a barrier," she says.

Team Leader

Like his colleagues at the cleveland clinic naples, Å6¶5Dr. Robert Zehr sports a green "Patients First" button on his white coat. Zehr's dual role as both executive director of the Naples campus and an orthopedic surgeon mirrors that philosophy-the organization insists that its top administrator also be a practicing doctor.

Zehr was head of orthopedic oncology in Cleveland when the company tapped him to start the Naples campus, putting him through an M.B.A. program. He opened the campus in 1999 and has made his own reputation in joint replacement surgery. He's also overseen an outpatient orthopedic rehabilitation program that will serve as a model for other clinic rehab programs.

He's proud that 20 percent of last year's Gulfshore Life/Castle Connolly list was made up of Cleveland Clinic physicians, even though they represent only three percent of the area's physician pool. While recruiting, he looks beyond stellar resumes for the slightest signs of apathy or refusal to work on a collaborative team. People come to the Cleveland Clinic because of its doctors' reputations, Zehr says. "We set the bar very high, and we look for people who set the bar very high for themselves. And if you don°Øt make it, you leave."