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 Head
An attending can also be the head of a department. A head is also known as a department chief. 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 heads who work at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and/or have worked at Seattle Grace Hospital and/or Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

Current Heads

 * Dr. Owen Hunt (Chief of Surgery, Head of Trauma Surgery)
 * Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Head of Neurosurgery)
 * Dr. Arizona Robbins (Head of Pediatric Surgery)
 * Dr. Maggie Pierce (Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Jennifer Stanley (Head of Pathology)
 * Dr. Tim Redmond (Head of Dermatology)
 * Dr. Chang (Head of Orthopedic Surgery)
 * Dr. T. Thomas (Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology)*

Former Heads

 * Dr. Preston Burke (former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Addison Montgomery (former Head of Neonatal Surgery, former Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perinatology Attending, and Medical Genetics Attending)
 * Dr. Erica Hahn (former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Mark Sloan (former Head of Plastic Surgery and former ENT Attending)
 * Dr. Jim Nelson (former interim Head of Neurosurgery)
 * Dr. Teddy Altman (former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Robert Stark (former Head of Pediatric Surgery)
 * Dr. Jeff Russell (former Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery)
 * Dr. Derek Shepherd (former Head of Neurosurgery)
 * Dr. Nicole Herman (Head of Fetal 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. Department heads are also attending surgeons, but since they have already been mentioned above, they are not included in this list.

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. Jackson Avery (Plastic Surgery and ENT Attending)*
 * Dr. April Kepner (Trauma Surgery Attending)*
 * Dr. Hudson (Anesthesiology Attending)
 * Dr. Alex Karev (Pediatric Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Arizona Robbins (Pediatric and Fetal 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. Cristina Yang (former Cardiothoracic Surgery Attending)
 * Dr. Ben Warren (former Anesthesiology Attending)
 * Dr. Derek Shepherd (former Neurosurgery Attending)

Notes and Trivia

 * Confirmed by her Twitter account, April Kepner is also the only sub-specialty attending, without the requirement of completing a trauma surgery fellowship.
 * Confirmed by @GreysMedical twitter account (10/02/2014): "Owen Hunt brought April Kepner back from the farm to mentor her in trauma so no formal fellowship."
 * Confirmed by @GreysMedical twitter account (10/02/2014): "Jackson Avery is certified in both fields (Plastic and ENT), just like Mark!"
 * 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 head of cardio, but she turned down the offer.
 * During the first two years of his surgical residency at UCLA, Dr. Ben Warren retained attending privileges when he consulted on surgical cases; however, he returned to the staff when he resigned from UCLA.