The business, which also publishes U.S. News and World Report, created the list from Castle Connolly’s database of Top Doctors recommended by other doctors for their clinical skills and individually vetted by a physician-led research team that looked at training, achievements and appointments, among other credentials. Consumers can search for a Top Doctor by location, hospital affiliation, and a full range of specialties and subspecialties.

Knoxville doctors on the list included neurologist Dr. David Brandes, gastroenterologist Dr. Richard Cohn, gastroenterologist Dr. Mark Jackson, urologist Dr. Edward Kim, gastroenterologist Dr. Robert Pollack, internist Dr. Gregg Rader, neurosurgeon Dr. William Reid, family medicine physician Dr. Andrew Smith, internist Dr. Robert Thompson and urologist Dr. William Bedford Waters. Dr. David Kalwinsky, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Johnson City Medical Center, also made the list, as did a number of doctors in the Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis areas.

Almost 30,000 peer-nominated U.S. physicians, including 320 from Tennessee, are in the free searchable directory available at http://www.usnews.com/top-doctors. Consumers can search by doctor’s name, specialty, preferred gender, hospital and city/state.

The directory builds on the Best Hospitals rankings, http://www.usnews.com/best-hospitals, which U.S. News updated last week. That list ranks the top five hospitals in the Knoxville metropolitan area as Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, University of Tennessee Medical Center, Parkwest Medical Center, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville.

“For decades, the Best Hospitals rankings have helped guide patients who need an especially high level of care to hospitals that excel in providing it,” said Avery Comarow, U.S. News Health Rankings Editor. “Top Doctors has a similar mission. We want to help consumers find the doctors in their area who come highly recommended by other physicians.”