Attending

An attending physician/attending surgeon is a doctor who has completed residency and practices medicine in a clinic or hospital, in the specialty learned during residency. An attending can supervise fellows, residents and medical students. Attendings may also have an academic title at an affiliated university such as "professor". Attendings have final responsibility, legally and otherwise, for patient care, even when many decisions are made by other doctors. Attendings may also still be in training, such as a fellow in a sub-specialty, but remains able to work as an attending in the specialty that they completed their residency.

Department Chief
An attending can also be a chief of a department. A chief is also known as a department head. As the department head/chief, they are the senior-most physician or surgeon of a specialized service within a hospital. They generally supervise other attendings working within their service and are responsible for all medical and surgical staff within their department.

The following list only contains the department chiefs who work at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and/or have worked at Seattle Grace Hospital and/or Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

Current Chiefs

 * Dr. Owen Hunt (Chief of Surgery, Chief of Trauma Surgery)
 * Dr. Derek Shepherd (Chief of Neurosurgery)
 * Dr. Arizona Robbins (Chief of Pediatric Surgery)
 * Dr. Jeff Russell (Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Jennifer Stanley (Chief of Pathology)
 * Dr. Tim Redmond (Chief of Dermatology)

Former Chiefs

 * Dr. Preston Burke (former Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Addison Montgomery (former Chief of Neonatal Surgery, former Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perinatology Attending, and Medical Genetics Attending)
 * Dr. Erica Hahn (former Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Mark Sloan (former Chief of Plastic Surgery and former ENT Attending)
 * Dr. Jim Nelson (former interim Chief of Neurosurgery)
 * Dr. Teddy Altman (former Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Robert Stark (former Chief of Pediatric Surgery)

Known Attendings
The following list only contains the attendings who work at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and/or have worked at Seattle Grace Hospital and/or Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

Current Attendings

 * Dr. Richard Webber (General Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Miranda Bailey (General Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Callie Torres (Orthopedic Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Meredith Grey ​(General Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Cristina Yang (Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow)*
 * Dr. Alex Karev (Pediatric Surgery Fellow)*
 * Dr. Jackson Avery (Plastic Surgery Fellow)*
 * Dr. April Kepner (Trauma Surgery Attending)

Former Attendings

 * Dr. Virgina Dixon (Cardiothoracic surgeon)
 * Dr. Lucy Fields (former OB/GYN Attending and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellow)
 * Dr. Margaret Campbell (retired General Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Ben Warren (former Anesthesiology Attending)

Notes and Trivia

 * Cristina, Alex, and Jackson, have attending status in general surgery, though they will need to complete their fellowships to be attendings of their respective specialties.
 * April Kepner is the only attending who is not yet board certified in general surgery.
 * Confirmed by her Twitter account, April Kepner is also the only sub-specialty attending, without the requirement of completing a trauma surgery fellowship.
 * The position of attending at a hospital is applied for, and not automatically granted after completion of residency or fellowship.
 * Richard had intended Dr. Virginia Dixon to replace Hahn as Seattle Grace's new chief of cardio, but she turned down the offer.