Kudos to Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University!

This afternoon, in its Today@U.S. News digital newsletter, U.S. News & World Report disclosed its"America's Best Hospitals: the 2009–10 Honor Roll," which features a familiar name in ninth place: "Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis." That listing (among titans like Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic) should come as no surprise to St. Louisans, who know what extraordinary healthcare professionals and institutions serve the metro area. Neither should it come as a surprise that many, many medical personnel from Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University are listed and profiled in "Best Doctors '09," the annual healthcare-related overview in the 368-page August St. Louis Magazine, which, coincidentally, shipped from our printer in Kentucky just this afternoon and which will grace subscribers' mailboxes and newsstands no later than July 31. That cover feature runs from pages 83 through 164―it all but ranks as a magazine within the magazine―and includes 1,106 physicians in 79 specialties, behind a special gatefold cover featuring half a dozen medical professionals from across the St. Louis area. Watch for it in the next few weeks…and if you know someone from Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, congratulate him or her on the much-deserved national recognition from U.S. News & World Report. -- Bryan A. Hollerbach