Board of Directors

At We Lead Surgery, we recognize that our success is only made possible by sitting on the shoulders of both the supporters and allies who came before us. With this in mind, we are honored and humbled to have an accomplished board of directors who have worked to further equality for women across the globe.

DR. LARA DEVGAN, MD, MPH, FACS 

Dr. Lara Devgan is the Chairwoman of We Lead's Board of Directors. Ranked as the #1 female cosmetic surgeon in NY, Dr. Devgan is an attending surgeon at 3 hospitals and a creator of her own medical-grade skin care line. Dr. Lara Devgan is a board-certified, Yale-educated, Johns Hopkins Medical School-instructed, and Columbia/ New York Presbyterian Hospital-trained plastic & reconstructive surgeon. Her special interests are cosmetic surgery of the face and body, and reconstructive surgery for breast cancer, skin cancer, and facial injuries. She is a board-certified plastic surgeon and a diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, having achieved board scores in the top 3% of all plastic surgeons nationwide.  She is a medical expert for ABC News, an editorial consultant for The Lancet, a nationally and internationally invited lecturer on surgical topics, and a consultant on plastic surgical issues for Gerson Lehrman Group, Guidepoint Global, and Medefield.  In addition to her impressive professional achievements, she is the proud mother of five children. 

Dr. Mary T. Hawn

Dr. Mary T. Hawn is the Stanford Medicine Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Hawn, a native of Michigan, received her education and surgical training at the University of Michigan. Her clinical area of specialty is minimally invasive foregut surgery. Dr. Hawn is a funded health services researcher and her projects focus on quality measurement and policy in surgical populations. She is a Director for the American Board of Surgery and serves on the editorial board of Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery and the American Journal of Surgery. Dr. Hawn has several additional leadership roles in American Surgery including Chair of the American College of Surgeons Scientific Forum Committee and as a Trustee and Treasurer for the Surgical Society of the Alimentary Tract. She is the co-Editor of a new surgical textbook Operative Techniques in Surgery.
 

Dr. Pamela Lipsett

Dr. Pamela A. Lipsett is the Warfield M. Firor Endowed Professor in Surgery and the first female professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Lipsett has served as the Director of General Surgery since 2005. She is the Co-Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Units and Director of the Surgical Critical Care Fellowship Program. Dr. Lipsett also serves as a managing board member of the Institute for Excellence in Education and chairs the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Student Assessment and Program Evaluation Committee. She has been the recipient of several educationally based awards including the George J. Stuart Award (1994, 1999), The Johns Hopkins Professor’s Award, and a Certificate of Appreciation from the School of Nursing. Dr. Lipsett is currently the president for the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Surgical Infection Society.

Dr. julie freischlag

Dr. Julie Freischlag, a vascular surgeon, served as the first female chair of the department of surgery and surgeon-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She was then appointed as the Vice Chancellor for Human Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis. She is currently the CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Freischlag is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine, considered the highest recognition of professional achievement and commitment to volunteer service in medicine, as determined by her peers through election. Freischlag has served in multiple national leadership roles, including immediate past president of the Society for Vascular Surgery Foundation, past chair of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons, past president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and past president of the Association of VA Surgeons and the Society of Surgical Chairs.

Dr. K. Kay Durairaj

Dr. K. Kay Durairaj graduated from the University of Southern California School of Medicine as a Dean Scholar all 4 years and in the top 5% of her class. She then went on to complete a general surgery internship at UCLA. She then completed her medical training at UCLA Medical School in the Division of Head and Neck Surgery. She is currently the Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at Huntington Hospital in Los Angeles. Her primary specialties include Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Otolaryngology. Dr. Durairaj is a member of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Additionally, she is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Her experience and education, combined with that of her colleagues and associates, allows me to provide her patients with the latest advances in head and neck surgery.