Physicians in the group come from a variety of backgrounds and specialties. Many have thriving clinical practices and squeeze in talks before and after work. Some make hundreds of presentations a year.
Endocrinologist Robert Busch, for example, made at least $234,000 from four drug companies since 2009. Busch, a member of a group practice in Albany, N.Y., said he brings the hands-on experience "some of these big gurus" at top universities lack: "I see patients day in-day out, like my audience."
With his kids grown and a wife who doesn't mind, Busch said he is able to spend a few nights a week holding half-hour teleconferences or having a driver take him to speaking engagements up to two hours away. He usually sleeps on the way home, he said. Last year, Busch gave 198 talks of some kind for Lilly alone.
Busch said he doesn't like reading from the slides provided by the companies, a recent requirement by the firms to ensure speakers do not discuss unapproved uses for drugs. But he says he is still able to give a thoughtful presentation: "You're not just a paid monkey reading slides."
The extra cash he earns, Busch said, helps him support his parents and pay for college for his kids.
Dr. David Rizzieri, an oncologist and cancer researcher at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina, specializes in bone-marrow and stem-cell transplantation. He earned at least $240,000 from two companies.
In written responses to questions, Rizzieri said his peers request him to learn about the diseases he treats and the drugs he uses. He said he speaks at early-morning breakfast meetings or late dinners to avoid missing work. When he travels, he said, he packs multiple events into the same trip.
Another academic, Eliot Brinton, an associate professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, made at least $203,900 from three companies and says he makes money from at least three others. Brinton said he has followed the debate generated by Dollars for Docs and has worried that his own presentations are medically sound.
"There is always the potential that somehow I'm getting in under the radar and then springing this very subtle and very pernicious sales message," he said. "I'm listening to myself every time I speak, and I have to ask myself the question: ‘Is what I'm saying truthful?'"
So far, Brinton said, he believes it is.
Alabama physician Mark Sweeny is not an academic, nor has he produced peer-reviewed research. He is on the staff of Decatur General Hospital's internal medicine clinic, but his board certification in internal medicine has expired.
He is, however, married to a Glaxo regional sales manager and since 2009 has earned at least $203,000 from Glaxo and another $52,170 from AstraZeneca.
Told about Sweeny's earnings, Dr. Larry Sullivan, Decatur's vice president of medical affairs expressed surprise at the amount, "Damn!"
Sullivan said Sweeny was "probably not" a leader in his field but "he's a good physician. He does a very good job." Sweeny doesn't need permission to speak on behalf of the industry as long as he fulfills his work responsibilities, Sullivan said.
Neither Sweeny nor his wife, Beth, the regional sales manager for Glaxo, responded to calls. Glaxo spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne said in an e-mail she could not comment "except to say that the decision to use Dr. Sweeny as a speaker on behalf of GSK was not made by a relative."
Another top earner, pain physician Gerald Sacks, declined several times through his receptionist to discuss his speaking fees. Since 2009, he has earned at least $249,300 from three companies.
Sacks' slides from a 2008 educational talk and 2009 presentation before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, describe him as the director of pain management at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. A hospital spokesman said Sacks has never held that title and that his pain clinic is not part of the hospital. He does have the ability to admit and treat patients at St. John's.
His private practice is busy, typically treating between 150 and 200 pain-management patients a week, he said while testifying on behalf of Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals before the FDA panel in 2009.
Some among the top-paid doctors declined to discuss their pharma relationships, citing packed schedules.
"Because of the busy clinical practice, family illness and staffing change and travel, I am quite overwhelmed right now," wrote Virginia endocrinologist Farhad Zangeneh who earned at least $229,200 from four companies.
Dr. Amir Sharafkhaneh, an associate professor and pulmonologist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said in an August e-mail that he supports the public disclosure of industry payments.
"However, I am uncomfortable doing interviews because English is not my first language," said Sharafkhaneh, who earned more than $222,700 from three companies. "Presenting technical information in my field is easy but discussing complex and nuanced social topics is difficult for me. Sometimes I have problems expressing my views clearly."
When ProPublica offered to hire a translator for Sharafkhaneh, Baylor spokeswoman Lori Williams responded in an e-mail Friday. She said the doctor would not be available for an interview but that the college had begun a review of his compliance with disclosure policies.
Among the physicians who spoke to ProPublica, most praised the pharmaceutical companies for choosing them to bring information about the latest advances to overworked doctors.
Dr. Samuel Dagogo-Jack, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, made at least $257,000 from three companies.
He said that he receives such kudos for his talks that he has heard it said that "companies would be at a competitive disadvantage" if they didn't use him.
- Our Dollars for Docs Database
We compiled tens of thousands of records from all the companies that have disclosed their payments to doctors so far. Search for your physician. - How Patients Can Use This Data
Read our explainer on what it means if your doctor has a financial relationship to a drug company.
ProPublica compiled thousands of records to track the financial ties between doctors and drug companies.