Stephenson, Kathryn Lyle, 1912-

Kathryn Lyle Stephenson, 1912-1993, plastic surgeon, MD, 1941, University of Kansas Medical School. Stephenson was the first women member of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, 1951 and the first women editor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 1965-1967. Editor of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Yearbook, 1967-1975.

Kathryn Lyle Stephenson, 1912-1983, was one of the first female plastic surgeons to practice in the United States and the first woman to be editor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She was born July 30, 1912 in Kansas City, Mo. She received her BA from the University of Arizona in 1936, and her MD from the University of Kansas Medical School in 1941.

From 1942-1943, Stephenson interned at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Calif., was an assistant resident in medicine at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, and a resident in pediatrics at the University of Kansas. She began her work in plastic surgery as Earl C. Padgett Research Fellow in Plastic Surgery in 1944. In 1947 Stephenson was appointed Instructor in Plastic Surgery at Tulane University School of Medicine.

In 1949 Stephenson established a private practice in Santa Barbara, Calif., where she remained until her retirement in 1977. She served on the staff of the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, the Santa Barbara General Hospital and St. Francis Hospital.

Stephenson was certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 1950 and in 1951 became the first woman to join the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. She served on the board of directors of the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation (1961-1963) and was a founding member and president (1967-1968) of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons. She was also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Stephenson authored several dozen articles and lectures on a wide range of topics about plastic surgery including burns, rhytidectomy, mammoplasty, aesthetic plastic surgery and the history of plastic surgery. Her own publications include Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, which she co-authored with Earl C. Padgett in 1948. Stephenson served as co-editor and editor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery from 1963-1967. She also served as co-editor and editor of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Yearbook from 1967-1975.

She died in 1993.