Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek sees the benevolent Starfleet travel the stars in search of new life. These multi-year missions are led by a captain, like Kirk or Picard, and most are undertaken willingly. Others, such as the USS Voyager's return from the Delta Quadrant, are conducted on a less voluntary basis.
No matter the motivation, one thing is constant in Star Trek's universe: danger. The marked-for-death redshirt has become enough of a trope to inspire independent novels, and those who are lucky enough to survive are often in need of medical care. Luckily, Starfleet is home to brilliant doctors. Some are abrasive, some are romantic, but each is a master of their craft.
10 Phil Boyce
Doctor Phil Boyce (John Hoyt) makes only a fleeting appearance in the Star Trek mythos, in the unused pilot "The Cage". Nonetheless, Boyce does make an impression, although it may be at odds with his role as a doctor. Rather than relying on medicine to comfort a morose Captain Pike, Boyce instead offers the captain a martini.
There is method to Boyce's madness—he reasons that playing bartender will make Pike open up to him. Unfortunately, the failure of "The Cage" means that Boyce is a footnote in Star Trek history, although footage of the doctor is reused in The Original Series two-parter "The Menagerie", and the character appears in John Jackson Miller's The Enterprise War, a 2019 Star Trek: Discovery novel.
9 Beverly Crusher
While Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is a prolific character, the chief medical officer of the Enterprise-D cannot be said to be one of the franchise's most compelling characters. This is less an issue with McFadden's performance as it is with the scripts, which prefer to treat Crusher as an expository device and occasional Picard love interest.
While there are some strong Crusher-centric episodes ("Remember Me", "The Host"), she carries the burden of starring in one of the franchise's worst: ghostly gothic romance "Sub Rosa". That Crusher is a competent doctor is hardly up for debate, but neither the writers of TNG nor its feature films seemed especially interested in developing her beyond that. Luckily, this was rectified somewhat in the third season of Star Trek: Picard.
8 Hugh Culber
While Star Trek: Discovery has certainly divided the franchise's fanbase in terms of continuity, tone, and writing quality, it cannot be denied that the show has made great strides in LGBT representation. This is exemplified in the romance between Doctor Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp). Not even death (followed by a fungi-fueled resurrection) can tarnish the relationship between the amiable doctor and uptight mushroom scientist.
While Culber's role in Discovery has proven hugely meaningful to representation-hungry fans, the show's intrinsic focus on a single character, Michael Burnham, means that there has been little time to develop the character. This may be an issue with the series rather than the character, but it is Culber himself who suffers.
7 T'Ana
The irascible Doctor T'Ana (Gillian Vigman) is an appropriate chief medical officer for the ramshackle USS Cerritos. The Caitian is a far cry from the polite, conflict-free doctors of other shows in the Star Trek franchise; indeed, her speech is punctuated with expletives. Perhaps this is understandable, as working with the frequently inept Cerritos crew surely tries her patience.
Although an apparently competent doctor, T'Ana's bedside manner is enough to have any Starfleet officer wishing to go to warp in the other direction. However, despite her attitude problems, T'Ana has a softer side, enjoying holodeck assignations with Shaxs, the starship's chief of security.
6 Joseph M'Benga
Doctor Joseph M'Benga first appeared in The Original Series, played by actor Booker Bradshaw, and Roddenberry hoped to develop the character in a spin-off series set aboard a Starfleet hospital ship. While this series never saw production, M'Benga would return in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, now played by actor Babs Olusanmokun.
The latest iteration of the character explores his past as part of Starfleet special forces and his role in the Federation–Klingon War. Despite his medical skills, M'Benga is unable to develop a cure for cygnokemia, a rare disease that affects his daughter, Rukiya. By the time of TOS, M'Benga has stepped down from the chief medical officer position but continues to serve aboard the Starship Enterprise.
5 Christine Chapel
The Spock-loving Christine Chapel (played by Majel Barrett and Jess Bush in The Original Series and Strange New Worlds, respectively) bears a striking resemblance to Number One from "The Cage". Roddenberry planned to make Barrett the star of his show; when producers derailed this plot, Roddenberry changed Barrett's hair and snuck her aboard the Enterprise as a nurse.
Chapel serves as an assistant to both Doctor M'Benga and Doctor McCoy throughout her time aboard the ship, and is a certified doctor by the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Nor are Chapel's talents limited to the field of medicine—she takes command of the Enterprise during "The Lorelei Signal", an episode of The Animated Series that sees the starship's male crew members hypnotized by a race of space sirens.
4 Julian Bashir
Actor Alexander Siddig initially plays Doctor Julian Bashir as an overeager nerd who attempts to woo Deep Space Nine's glamorous science officer, Jadzia Dax. While Bashir's flirting is unsuccessful, he does form a touching bond with The Next Generation's Miles O'Brien in one of the franchise's most well-realized friendships.
Over the course of Deep Space Nine, Bashir develops from a lovestruck young man into a world-weary secret agent, often working for Starfleet's nefarious Section 31. This shift is facilitated, in part, by his relationship with Elim Garak, a former member of Cardassia's Obsidian Order, but is enhanced by Bashir's unique physique—as a child, the doctor was genetically modified.
3 Katherine Pulaski
Although actress Diana Muldaur appeared in two episodes of The Original Series, she is best known to Star Trek fans for playing Doctor Pulaski in the second year of The Next Generation. Pulaski joins the Enterprise-D to fill in for an absent Beverly Crusher, and she brings a welcome sense of sass to the all-too-perfect Starfleet crew.
Pulaski's brusque nature is particularly evident when dealing with Brent Spiner's Data, and some fans consider her treatment of him to be prejudiced. However, Pulaski is allowed to develop over the course of her year aboard the Enterprise (a rarity on TNG) and soon learns to value the android as a friend.
2 The Doctor
Starship medical officers come in all shapes, sizes, and attitudes, but only one can claim the distinction of being non-organic. Voyager's Emergency Medical Hologram (Robert Picardo) is intended to supplement a human doctor. However, when the starship is stranded far from home, the EMH, now calling himself the Doctor, must take on full-time healing duties.
Voyager's seven-year journey home to the Alpha Quadrant sees the Doctor search for a name, learn to sing opera, start a family, and live for several centuries on another planet. Nor does the hologram have an easy job: from turning into lizards to the Vidiian Phage, Voyager's crew are always finding strange new ways to require medical help.
1 Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) is a key ingredient in the Kirk–Spock–McCoy trifecta that makes The Original Series so enduringly popular. Many of McCoy's catchphrases have entered the popular lexicon, and his playfully antagonistic relationship with the green-blooded Spock elevates both characters into cultural icons. McCoy may not be the hero, but he is the spice that makes the series work.
Yet there is also a quiet nobility to Doctor McCoy, exemplified in the hidden gem "The Empath". When aliens experiment on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, the doctor knocks his two friends out so that he undergoes a life-threatening procedure in their place. Leonard McCoy is not only an excellent Starfleet doctor—he is also an excellent friend.