There’s an old joke that you can never find a policeman/plumber/president when you really need one. Applied to medical practitioners here in the Coachella Valley, that old chestnut has absolutely no traction.

The editors at Palm Springs Life do not think your health is a laughing matter. That’s why, when we put together our annual Top Doctors 2017 story, we partner with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a health care research and information company founded in 1991 by a former medical college board chairman and president to help guide consumers to America’s leading physicians, specialists, researchers, and hospitals.

Castle Connolly’s established nomination survey, research, screening, and selection process, under the direction of an M.D., involves many hundreds of thousands of physicians as well as academic medical centers, specialty hospitals, and regional and community hospitals across the nation. Castle Connolly’s physician-led team of researchers follows a rigorous screening process to select top doctors on both the national and regional levels. Its online nomination process — located at castleconnolly.com/nominations — is open to all licensed physicians in America who are able to nominate physicians across medical specialties and in any part of the country, as well as indicate whether the nominated physicians are, in their opinion, among the best in their region in their area of practice or among the best in the nation.

Careful screening of doctors’ educational and professional experience is essential before a final selection is made among those physicians most highly regarded by their peers. Castle Connolly identifies the premier practitioners in America and provides consumers with detailed information about their education, training, and special expertise in paperback guides, national and regional magazine “Top Doctors” features, and online directories.

Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected and profiled as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor.

Physicians selected for inclusion in this magazine’s Top Doctors 2017 feature many also appear as Regional Top Doctors at castleconnolly.com or in one of Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors guides, such as America’s Top Doctors® or America’s Top Doctors® for Cancer guides.

Be well.

—The PSL Editors

View the Top Doctors 2017 Directory.