In July 1993, Top Doctors graced the inaugural cover of 5280—and 19 years later it is still one of our top-selling issues each year. In 2012, we're still excited about it. Not only is it a resource for finding some of the city’s most highly regarded doctors, we are also reporting on the progress of medicine. For example, this year, we delve into the rapidly advancing field of cardiac care—from both the doctors’ and patients’ perspectives. That's just the beginning. Below, we give you a primer on this Top Docs feature, which hits newsstands on July 27.

337      The number of metro-area physicians that made the 2012 list

93        The number of medical specialties represented

5           The number of new specialties and subspecialties included this year

24         The number of local hospitals represented on the Top Doctors list

1,797   The number of local doctors who voted for Top Doctors

10         The number of cardiac-care physicians we profiled in the list’s complementary coverage

179      The number of years of combined experience of those cardiac-care physicians