PSN: By My Side
Growing up with physician parents exposed Katherine Ford Chiasson, MD, to the medical field at an early age. She admired her parents’ commitment to serve others and developed an interest in medicine because she wanted to make a difference, too.
“My mother was a plastic surgeon and my father a general surgeon, so I was determined to end up in medicine at a young age,” she says. “I was always in awe of what my parents did and impressed when random people walked up to my mom at a restaurant and gave her a hug for changing their lives. I thought medicine was such an honorable profession.”
Although she was drawn to surgery as a medical student, Dr. Chiasson concedes she didn’t consider plastic surgery until she discovered the breadth and depth of the specialty halfway through her residency.
“I realized I wanted to become a plastic surgeon once I had an appreciation of the variety, including reconstructive procedures,” she says. “My mom was my role model and an example of how great the career could be for me. She always balanced her life as a surgeon and mom. She was able to work, carve-out family time and volunteer for school field trips. That helped me make my decision as well.”
Dr. Chiasson, who recently completed her Fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, co-founded Ford Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in the Baton Rouge, La., area with her mother, Ann Ford Reilley, MD, in September. She notes that starting a private practice immediately after residency is daunting, but she credits her mother for helping her execute her vision during unprecedented times. In 2019, Dr. Reilley scouted office locations in Baton Rouge, toured properties with real estate agents and met with architects and designers while Dr. Chiasson completed her training in Alabama.
“There’s no way I could have done it without her,” she says. “It’s a competitive field, so it can be hard to break into a particular community and to feel welcome depending on where you live. Starting out is a scary process and there’s a lot you don’t know. It’s hard to trust other people’s advice on what to do, but having a former plastic surgeon by my side who happens to be my mom makes the process easier.”
Dr. Reilley made history as the first woman in Louisiana to be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the only woman to be elected as president of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. Five years after retiring from a 30-year career, she returns to the workforce to support her daughter’s venture. Dr. Reilley will serve as the advisor and assist Dr. Chiasson in selected cases. She says she’s thrilled to join one of the few mother-daughter plastic surgery practices in the country.
“It’s been so rewarding working with my daughter,” she tells PSN. “So many of my colleagues tell me I’m so lucky and they would have done anything to have their sons or daughters join them. It’s the ultimate compliment to have her follow in my footsteps.”
Dr. Reilley, who refers to herself as the “chief enthusiasm officer” of the practice, says their personality differences complement each other and work to their advantage.
“Kate has such a calm demeanor, and patients are immediately at ease with her,” she says. “I’m the yang to her yin, an Energizer bunny, and she’s Zen and calm. Sometimes, my enthusiasm gets ahead of me and she has to bring me back. I have to remember she’s the boss. It’s her practice more than mine. I’m used to being in charge, so I have to learn to take a step back.”
Dr. Chiasson says even though her mother has been her biggest cheerleader, she’s also much more.
“She knows me and understands my vision, the type of physician I am and the type of practice and culture I want to create for my patients,” she says. “She’s the ultimate team player. I have so much respect for the insight and advice she brings to the table – whether it’s about creating a memorable clinic experience for the patients or her approach to a complicated case. But as my mom, there’s no one else who could pick me up when things get stressful or hard. It’s been a major blessing to have her here with me.”
Dr. Chiasson says building a family practice can become all-consuming. To that end, they have to separate their work from family life, which she says is the more important of the two and what they want the community to see.
“We want people to feel like this is a family business and feel the family vibe,” Dr. Chiasson says. “People have plastic surgery needs from infancy until the end of life. We hope our breast augmentation patient will recommend us if someone she knows gets skin cancer or needs reconstructive surgery after a dog bite. We don’t want to be a plastic surgery factory. It’s a unique angle to have a family business, and we want to be someone’s family plastic surgeon as long as they need us through life.”