From Harvard and Yale to Atlanta
Dr. Morgan is a world renowned plastic surgeon specializing in cosmetic plastic surgery.
Born in Virginia, she always wanted to live in Atlanta, ‘the capital of the South.’
Harvard – Dr. Morgan started at Harvard University where she majored in biology and graduated magna cum laude at 16. Her Harvard biology thesis was in the genetics of the oat. Oat genetics are interesting, but she found people more interesting.
Oxford – Since she finished Harvard in only three-and-a-half years, she spent the extra semester doing research at Oxford University on frog glands. She hadn’t realized the research required her to kill so many frogs; she knew she would prefer patient care to frog research.
Yale – After Oxford, Dr. Morgan came home to attend the Yale School of Medicine where everything was so interesting that it was hard to decide on a specialty but she opted for plastic surgery after she assisted on a baby’s cleft lip repair. “That was like watching a miracle.”
Oxford again – Yale required a medical school thesis, so Dr. Morgan returned to Oxford to work with Prof. Paul Beeson – an infectious disease specialist who was a Professor at Emory and at Yale before going to Oxford. Dr. Morgan did parasite research which was fascinating but she still preferred surgery. “In a crisis, we always yell for the surgeon,” Professor Beeson joked with her.
Yale, Harvard and Tufts – after graduating from Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Morgan did seven years of surgical and plastic surgery training first at Yale, then Tufts, back to Yale and back to Harvard, where she finished her plastic surgery and cosmetic plastic surgery training at the Deaconness and Peter Bent Brigham Hospitals, under world famous Harvard Professors Wolfort, Goldwyn and Murray and later equally famous Harvard Professors Mulliken, Upton and Laban. “It was an amazing time to be there.”
Cosmopolitan Magazine and The Making of a Woman Surgeon
During residency, Dr. Morgan wrote the medical column for Cosmopolitan Magazine and kept a diary which was the basis for her best selling book, ” The Making of a Woman Surgeon.” It recounts her general surgery, plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery training. It encouraged other women to become plastic surgeons too.
Plastic Surgery Practice
Dr. Morgan wrote two more books. Her “Complete Book of Cosmetic Surgery for Men, Women and Teens” was the first doctor-written advice book on cosmetic surgery. After her training, Dr. Morgan practiced in McLean, Virginia where her family lived; family reasons took her abroad to New Zealand for several years, where she did a PhD in the psychology of trauma. On their return to the US, Dr. Morgan’s cosmetic plastic surgery practice was in Chevy Chase and Beverly Hills. In 2010, her daughter now in medical school, Dr. Morgan was free to move her practice to Atlanta.
“I love everywhere I’ve lived but for me, Atlanta is still the best.”
