HOW MANY TYPES OF MEDICAL DOCTOR ARE THERE? 

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Hate to break it to you, but (whispering), “Dr.Seuss wasn't a doctor”. That was the nom de plume of Theodor Seuss Geisel, an accomplished children's book author and illustrator, but no doctor.

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The term "doctor" is a non-specific reference to a watermark level of academic achievement. But the term is not unique to medicine. There are doctors outside of medicine e.g. a PhD in music or statistics or astronomy is also referred to as Dr.So-and-so. "M.D." however, is specific to medicine and is short for "medical doctor".

 

Within the envelope of medicine however, all doctors are not created equal either. "Doctor" is an umbrella term covering at least a dozen variations in medical specialization. You cannot tell what type of doctor a physician is, just from their prefix of "Dr."

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The following is a list of the major categories of doctor covered by the term "medical doctor" aka specialties:

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Allergist
Anesthetist
Dermatologist
Endocrinologist
Epidemiologist
Family Physician (me)
Gastroenterologist
General Surgeon
Geneticist
Gynecologist
Hematologist
Hepatologist
Immunologist
Infectious Diseases
Internist
Microbiologist
Nephrologist
Neurologist
Neurosurgeon
Obstetrician
Oncologist
Opthalmologist
Orthopedics
Pathologist
Pediatrician
Plastic Surgery
Psychiatrist
Radiologist
Researcher
Respirologist
Rheumatologist
Urologist

FYI, if someone starts choking on their popcorn at the cinema, don’t yell “is there a doctor in the house?”. You might get a biologist, math professor, music teacher, or Theodor Seuss Geisel stand up. Be specific. Yell: “is there a physician in the house?”