ASPS President’s Award
‘All individuals are respected’: A career in community building By Paul Snyder
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any careers in plastic surgery are defined by innovation that helped advance the specialty, but many more are defined by the relationships fostered over the course of a career and the direct effect that friendship, mentorship and guidance can have on the careers of countless others. When ASPS immediate-past President Lynn Jeffers, MD, MBA, bestowed the ASPS President’s Award upon Debra Johnson, MD, during Plastic Surgery The Meeting 2020, she said the honor was due in large part to the inspiring effect that Dr. Johnson has had on so many plastic surgeons. To be sure, Dr. Johnson has built a sizable orbit of personal and professional relationships over the course of an impressive career. To date, she has volunteered in more than 60 international missions and served as ASPS president, as well as president of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons (CSPS) and on the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Her work as a plastic surgeon is defined not only by the results she’s had for her patients, but also by an extensive track record of involvement in organized plastic surgery, including numerous committees and task forces in ASPS. Yet, a career in plastic surgery wasn’t her original goal. Dr. Johnson grew up in a rural community in central California. Her parents were high-school sweethearts who married and started a family early, due to her father joining the Marines during World War II. Although neither of her parents went to college, Dr. Johnson says they never stopped encouraging her to go to college and make the most of herself. Not certain what she wanted to do with life, she says her decision to medicine was steered by the fact that her mother was an office manager for a general practitioner who one day suggested that Dr. Johnson become a doctor. By her junior year in high school, Dr. Johnson was working a small job in the E.R. at a local hospital and set her sights on a career in oncology during medical school. However, The PSF past-President Donald Laub, MD, then the plastic surgery department chair at Stanford University, took her on her first international mission trip as a medical student, which she credits for changing her focus to a future in plastic surgery. Throughout her career, Dr. Johnson remained an active participant in mission trips, which she says keep her grounded and connected to the important work that plastic surgeons are able to perform on a daily basis. Recalling one such trip, she says performing a cleft-lip surgery on a 72-year-old man exerted an enduring impact upon her. “He lived in the house of the people who brought him to me, and he’d lived his whole life in this kind of sheltered, protected environment,” Dr. Johnson remembers. “Because of his condition, he was never very social. He was nearing the end of his life. I was happy to perform the surgery, I couldn’t help but wonder about the timing. I said to him, ‘Why do you want to have this surgery now?’ There was a slight pause, and he looked at me and said, ‘Because I don’t want God to see me this way.’ ” Dr. Johnson says there are countless such
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Dr. Johnson (above) during a mission trip in Mandalay, Myanmar, with a young cleft-lip patient and her mother; (left) with her husband, Mario, on the Calatrava Bridge in Bilbao during the Spanish Society of Plastic Surgeons Meeting in June 2017; and (right), with her children, Pablo and Gabi, during Pablo’s white coat ceremony at Temple University School of Medicine.
stories that reinforce the power of the work that plastic surgeons can do – sometimes in less than an hour.
Natural leader Much like her journey to the specialty itself, her journey into leadership positions wasn’t necessarily a goal from the outset but a path forged by the encouragement of others. She credits Robert Faggella Jr., MD, Jack Bruner, MD, and John Osborn, MD, with steering her to the advocacy side of Society involvement, which led to not only her time as president of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons, but also to her 2017 term as ASPS president. “It seemed like a natural connection to me,” she says of her work in state and national societies. “This is our organization; we should want to take care of it.” Dr. Johnson’s work at the state and federal levels has been an inspiration to many of her colleagues, says ASPS/PSF Vice President of Health Policy & Advocacy Gregory Greco, DO, who notes his pride in being able to call Dr. Johnson a close friend for so many years. “I was first introduced to Dr. Johnson through my own ASPS Advocacy Committee work, and it was evident from the first meeting that she had a voice, opinions and actions that defined and underscored her social, moral and humanitarian beliefs,” he says. “We are fortunate to have her as a role model and thought leader in our Society.” Reflecting on her presidency, Dr. Johnson says she’s particularly proud of the work that ASPS made in fortifying international relationships and partnerships – a pattern that has only increased in the years since. “The connections we made were important,” she notes. “We were only kind of maturing in our life of international membership, and I took great pride in being able to visit some of the international societies and spread the word of what ASPS provided their members in terms of education and networking.” Dr. Johnson’s tenure as ASPS president was also historic in that she was only the second woman in Society history to be elected president. Although more women have
followed as president for both ASPS and The PSF in the ensuing years, Dr. Johnson says the Society needs to keep its foot on the gas in terms of ensuring the organization remains an increasingly diverse community. “Women started entering medicine just about 50 years ago, and for 45 of those we hardly moved the needle on leadership,” she says. “But as we’ve made more noise, things have improved significantly. Now we have about 37 percent of plastic surgery residents as women – when I started, that number was around 12 percent. So we are seeing those numbers move, and I think the Women Plastic Surgeons Forum has been really important in terms of mentoring young women and getting them involved, and things such as the ‘Women in Plastic Surgery’ series that PRS ran a few years ago was particularly important in getting gender issues out in the open. “Diversity in all areas has become a top-ofmind issue, and we know that diverse groups perform better,” she continues. “We just need to keep pushing that agenda, and it has to start with recruitment of residents, faculty and, ultimately, the leadership of our Society to ensure we continue to have a diverse organization.” Dr. Jeffers says the example Dr. Johnson set as a leader provided an important standard for anyone who seeks a leadership role. “I first met Dr. Johnson when she was one of the faculty for the Stanford Board Review course,” Dr. Jeffers recalled when presenting Dr. Johnson with the ASPS President’s Award. “Something about her stood out and our paths crossed again later in our shared work in advocacy and organized medicine and, ultimately, when Dr. Johnson served as the second woman president of ASPS. Her dedication to advocacy is seen in her leadership, when she fights for the future of plastic surgery. As a current ASPS trustee, she continues to champion the idea of doing the right thing, and she remains active in her mentorship of others in leadership – in advocacy and life. Dr. Johnson contributes countless hours of time to plastic surgeons, ASPS and our specialty. She actively seeks to grow others and creates opportunities for others to lead. Her leadership and dedication
have inspired many – both nationally and at the state level.” The PSF past-President Paul Cederna, MD, who served as The PSF president the same year as Dr. Johnson served as ASPS president, says it was his privilege and honor to work so closely with Dr. Johnson not only in 2017, but in several areas of Society involvement through the years. “It is very rare that you find a person who thinks the way you think, whose instincts are similar to yours and whose approach to challenges is perfectly aligned with yours,” Dr. Cederna tells PSN. “That is why we had so many successful years serving the ASPS and The PSF together. Dr. Johnson is a thoughtful and insightful leader. She’s a visionary who can very effectively manage the issues of the moment, but at the same time, she could see the future and build programs to achieve that future state. “She was able to accomplish this by building diverse teams of individuals with specialized skill sets to solve some of the most complex issues our specialty faced,” Dr. Cederna adds. “Dr. Johnson has a collegial approach to problem-solving where all opinions are valued and all individuals are respected. This really brings out the best in people – I know that Dr. Johnson brought out the best in me and I’m a better leader and individual because of her.”
Strength in relationships Dr. Johnson’s career has been fortified by several mentors, colleagues and students – as well as her two children, Gabi and Pablo, and her late husband, Mario, who – like her parents – she says always encouraged her to dream big. “Family is our strongest support network,” she says. Considering all the accolades and titles held throughout an illustrious career, however, Dr. Johnson says her favorite part of being a plastic surgeon remains the patients. “They’re wonderful people,” she says. “They want their appearance to reflect their internal energy, they want to look as good as they feel and they have wonderful stories to tell. I have been so fortunate to meet some really interesting people, both in my private practice and in my international work – and it’s another way for me to be a diplomat for our specialty. You let them in, and it becomes more than just a doctor-patient relationship. You become friends. “I’ve been in practice long enough that I see people who I treated in the early 1990s coming back for a facelift in their 60s,” she says. “We talk about their kids and their career, and those ongoing relationships really mean a lot. When I do the last post-op work with a patient, I’ll always say, ‘You don’t need to come back for this problem, but all I ask is that you come back in 10 years with another issue.’ They almost always tell me they’ll be back: ‘Don’t worry.’ ” PSN
September 2021
