Everyone always ends up focusing on the bridge crew when they talk about Star Trek. That group is always at the center of the action, engaging with delegates, enemies, and having the most dramatic moments. However, some of the best characters in Star Trek aren't part of the bridge crew. No, not engineering (though they're amazing, too). Today, it's time for the doctors of Star Trek to get their dues. They've saved entire planets with their scientific abilities alone. From TNG to VOY, here's the recognition they deserve (the EMH would complain if it was any other way).
In no specific order, here are the 11 Best Doctors in Star Trek.
Beverly Crusher
When TNG premiered, Dr. Crusher became the first head female doctor on screen. Brilliant and beautiful, she became the Enterprise's lifeline in tough medical situations. After all, she's the only reason they survived the events of "Naked Now" one of TNG's earliest episodes.
The fact she balanced stern bedside manner and her friendly charms was impressive. She was close to so many people on the ship and she even caught the attention of her own captain.
As a professional, she's led Starfleet Medical, worked on covert Starfleet missions, cured bizarre, alien diseases, and saved her crew-mates from near certain peril. Pair that with her dancing, acting, and parenting skills and she's quite the impressive woman. Certainly one of the best Starfleet's ever seen.
Hugh Culber
Of all the best Starfleet doctors, Culber is one of the most progressive and adaptive. During his time as doctor on The Discovery, he discovered the telltale signs of Klingon genetic modification, discovered sentience in an alien species, and played support staff to a complicated and, at times, difficult crew.
Outside of his work, though, Culber is one of the few known doctors to have a stable romantic relationship with his husband, have been resurrected, and willing to jump forward in time to try to save the galaxy. Not only is he capable and brilliant, but also brave.
Leonard McCoy
Many classic Trekkies say that McCoy is their favorite doctors, and it's easy to see why. Snarky and intelligent, McCoy was always a useful brand of compassionate and logical. He helped complete the Kirk-Spock-McCoy triad that led TOS' Enterprise through sickness and health.
Sure, maybe the guy was a bit sarcastic. However, he helped revolutionize medicine on deep-space travels and Federation knowledge on Vulcan physiology.
The most important part is that he's a fantastic doctor, Jim, not a rocket scientist.
Phil Boyce
The true first doctor of Star Trek, Phil Boyce was Captain Pike's physician on his version of the Enterprise, before Captain Kirk. Phil acted much like McCoy; he acted as a confidant and friend to his captain. The man was also a capable drink-mixer, known for carrying a martini kit with him. He reasoned that sometimes people will tell a bartender something they won't tell their doctor.
A stark realist, Boyce helped pike survive through many trials and gave him a friend fearless to stand up to him.
He definitely created the template for doctors to be the voice of reason for their idealistic captains, a tradition that lasted through several well-known starships.
The Doctor
While many doctors throughout Star Trek history have been fairly serious people in their own ways, the most dynamic is hands down the EMH. A Hologram program only meant for emergency use, when Voyager lost its chief medical officer, it all fell to the EMH. Over time, The Doctor started to form a complex personality from his interactions with the crew. It wasn't long before he was much more than a simple, typical hologram.
Not only is a fabulous doctor, saving lives, birthing two babies, and augmenting borg components, he also was a fascinating person. He became a operatic hero on an alien planet, he became a novelist, and he helped save his own creator.
Katherine Pulaski
When Dr. Crusher left the Enterprise to join Starfleet medical, Dr. Katherine Pulaski was sent to replace her. Opinionated and headstrong, Pulaski's no-nonsense style got under a lot of people's skin on-board and in the fandom. It didn't help the writers had her start an antogonistic relationship with fan-favorite Data.
Despite her flaws, though, she was a fantastic doctor. She's the war doctor type, willing to make sacrifices for the "good of all". She got Worf through a highly dangerous surgery, saved a planet of people from aging to death by putting herself in danger, and sacrificed compassion for precision. Even if fans didn't love her, she was a great doctor.
Noonian Soong
Even though he specialized in android technology, Noonian Soong was still a great medical doctor in his own right. After all, he had to have intimate knowledge of human physiology to copy it almost exactly with wires, motherboards, and tech.
Between creating their bodies, their learning processes, their emotional chips, (and their nigh-unmentionable, "fully functional" capabilities), Soong made medical history with his android sons.
Not all great medical doctors have to be strictly medical. His progress was clearly revolutionary in pushing the boundaries of humanoid lifeforms and he deserves recognition for it.
Julian Bashir
Genetically modified superhuman Julian Bashir was a med student desperate to make a difference. He found that, for sure, aboard Deep Space Nine. During his time on the station, Julian helped other genetically modified people, saved a planet from a planet-wide blight, and saved many of his crew-members' lives, including Nog, Quark, Jadzia, and others.
Sure, his know-it-all attitude could be annoying, but it was hard to blame him when he did know a lot more than most anyone around him. Brilliant to a fault, Julian was one of the best doctors Starfleet ever had and DS9 was lucky to have had him.
Christine Chapel
Even though Dr. McCoy was the chief medical officer on TOS, Christine Chapel was his long-suffering nurse. Not only did she have to deal with just as many conundrums and injuries, but she also rarely got any credit for it. She was kind, yet serious, and helped make sure McCoy could keep up with all the medical needs on their journey.
She re-educated a memory-wiped Uhura, attended to many of the psychological needs of the crew and their guests, assisted Uhura as CMO when all the men were in danger of a siren-like creature.
No matter how much trouble the crew of the Enterprise gave her, she was an efficient and intelligent nurse that helped save the crew many times.
Ira Graves
A brilliant scientist, Ira Graves was a molecular cyberneticist. That meant that he was well-versed in human and technological systems. While The Enterprise visited Ira while he was passing away, helping him and his research assistant Kareen move somewhere else before he was gone.
However, stubborn and in love with Kareen, Ira was determined to meld his human consciousness with a computer. When he met Data, he took the opportunity to download himself into the unwilling host. He made the android suddenly more like a cyborg, giving him the consciousness of a human.
Luckily for Data, the crew convinced Ira it was his time to move on and to give Data back his own life. However, it doesn't make his achievements any less brilliant.
Phlox
The alien doctor of the first USS Enterprise, Phlox was always a unique healer. While all doctors wanted to learn more to be effective healers, Phlox already traveled to different places and used their different methods in healing. He knew how to help people many ways before running out of healing methods.
Phlox helped save people of all races they came across, cured what was once and incurable plague, and gave Starfleet irreplaceable medical knowledge on several different races and their practices.
Fans may not always agree with his methods and decisions, but it doesn't make him any less great of a doctor.