Physicians & Staff

United Surgical Associates of Lexington KY is an organization of caring professionals dedicated to the well-being of their patients, offering a wide range of services, designed safegaurd your health.

	Edwin J. Nighbert, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Nighbert is a native of Williamsburg, Kentucky. He received his undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Kentucky and postgraduate surgical training at Vanderbilt University and the University of Kentucky Medical Center. In the military, he was co-director of the Vascular Surgery Services at Martin Army Hospital, Ft. Benning, Georgia. He joined the practice of Surgical Associates of Lexington in 1973. Dr. Nighbert is quite active in the medical community. He is the former president of the Fayette County Medical Society, is a member of Alpha-Omega-Alpha Honorary, the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery, as well as numerous other medical association affiliations. He is co-founder and Medical Director of HEALTHSOUTH Lexington Surgery Center.
	Michael E. Daugherty, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Daugherty, a native of Anchorage, Kentucky, is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He served his surgical residency at the University of North Carolina and the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. From1973 to 1978 he was Assistant Professor of General and Vascular Surgery at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He joined Surgical Associates of Lexington in 1978. He currently holds a Clinical Professor of Surgery position with the University of Kentucky Department of Surgery. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and holds the certificate of special qualification in Peripheral Vascular Surgery awarded by the American Board of Surgery. He is an active member of several medical organizations including the International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, the Peripheral Vascular Surgical Society, the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery, and the Southern Surgical Association.
	John D. Stewart, II, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Stewart is a native of Frankfort, Kentucky. He received his B.A. with honors at the University of Virginia in 1974 and his medical degree with honors at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1978. His General Surgery training was in Houston at the University of Texas Medical School from 1978 to 1983. He received the George Waldron Chief Surgical Resident Award in June, 1983. He served a Vascular Fellowship at Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation, New Orleans from 1983 to 1984. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery in 1984 and Peripheral Vascular Surgery in 1989. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the Kentucky and Fayette County Medical Societies. He is married to Dr. Magdalene Karon, a Lexington Obstetrician & Gynecologist, and has two children. His father, Dr. John P Stewart, is the director of the Stewart Home School for the mentally handicapped in Frankfort.
	Thomas H. Greenlee, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Greenlee was born in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and Maysville, Kentucky. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, receiving a B.S. with high distinction in 1976. He graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine with honors in 1979, and received his general surgery training there from July, 1979, through June, 1984. After one year on the surgical staff at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Greenlee served a Peripheral Vascular Fellowship at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas from July, 1985, through June, 1986. He received certification by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery in 1985 and in Peripheral Vascular Surgery in 1989.
	Wm. Dennis Newton, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Newton was born in Louisville, Kentucky. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in 1975 at Bellarmine College and his M.D. degree with honors in 1979 at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. His General Surgery training was received in San Antonio, Texas at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center from 1979 to 1984. A Fellowship in Peripheral Vascular Surgery was completed at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts in 1985. He was Chief of General and Vascular Surgery at the USAF Medical Center Kessler Biloxi, Mississippi from 1985 to 1990. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in 1985 and was awarded the certificate of added qualifications in General Vascular Surgery in 1989. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the Southeastern Surgical Congress, Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society and numerous other medical associations.
	Colby P. Atkins, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Atkins was born in Norwalk, Connecticut and raised in Newark, Delaware. He was graduated with honors from Texas A&M University in 1981, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree. After receiving his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 1984, he entered general surgery training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, completing that training in 1990. He served Peripheral Vascular Surgery Fellowships at Baptist Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee and Georgia Baptist Medical Center in Atlanta. He was certified in General Surgery by the American Board of Surgery in 1992 and was awarded the certificate of added qualifications in General Vascular Surgery in 1997. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Southeastern Surgical Congress, and several other medical societies. His wife, Dr. Lori Atkins, is a radiologist with a special interest in women's imaging. They have three children.
	Joshua P. Steiner, M.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. Steiner was born in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from the University of California, at Los Angeles in 1991. After receiving his medical degree from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, he completed his surgical residency at the University of Kentucky in 2001. He then returned to Los Angeles and completed an advanced Lapaorscopic Surgery Fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with an emphasis on bariatric and solid organ surgery. He has a special interest in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in June of 2002, and he is an instructor for the Society of American Gastrointestional Endoscopic Surgeons and an active member of numerous other medical societies. His wife, Whitney, is a native of Lexington, and they have two sons, Nathaniel and Maxwell.