Star Trek: Every Medical Officer Ranked

Star Trek: Discovery's Doctor Hugh Culber is perhaps Star Trek's most controversial doctor. Not for his overtly racists views on artificial lifeforms like Doctor Pulaski or his mistreatment of animals like Doctor Phlox, but for the fact that he was the victim of the notorious "bury your gays" TV trope in the season one episode "Despite Yourself". The death was made worse by the fact that the perpetrator, Voq / Ash Tyler, suffered no real consequences for the whole murder thing, other than getting a little roughed up by a resurrected Culber in "If Memory Serves".

Regardless of all that, Doctor Culber is back to life and season two actually took the time to dramatize the emotional toll such a death and resurrection would have on a person, something the franchise had previously played fast and loose with. Culber is also shown to be a nuanced individual and a capable doctor with questionable taste in opera (Kasseelian) and the ability to pull off wearing a seemingly-anachronistic black button up shirt around the ship (see "The Red Angel").

Like Discovery's other doctor, Pollard, Culber stayed aboard in the second season finale as the ship headed off into the 32nd century, caring for his severelly injured partner, Paul Stamets. Emperor Georgiou, who shamelessly sexually harassed both Culber ("papi") and Stamets in the aforementioned "The Red Angel", is also aboard for the jump into the future meaning there's at least some awkward banter to look forward to in Culber's future.