Meet Dr. Richard Morrison
Dr. Richard Morrison has been a renowned and respected leader in cardiothoracic surgery care in the greater Chattanooga area for over thirty years. Always intrigued by science, especially anatomy and physiology, a career in medicine seemed a logical choice. After beginning the journey towards becoming a physician the challenging, complex and precise anatomy of cardiac surgery drew his interest. A Tennessee native, he attended medical school at the East Tennessee State University College of Medicine from 1970 to 1974 where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. He completed his Internship in 1977 at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center as an Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Society member and completed General Surgery Residency at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Chattanooga at the Baroness Erlanger Hospital from 1977 to 1982. He then completed his Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellowship in New York at Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was the Chief Cardiothoracic Resident.
Dr. Morrison holds certifications from multiple respectable organizations, such as the American Board of Surgery, the National Board of Medical Examiners, the American Board of Thoracic Surgery and Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He is a Fellow with the American College of Surgeons and affiliated with the American Medical Association, Southern Medical Association, Tennessee Medical Association, and Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Association.
Dr. Morrison has been in private practice since 1984. Over these thirty-four years, Dr. Morrison has performed more than 15,000 cardiac, thoracic and peripheral vascular procedures. He has also participated in over 250 structural heart procedures and was an integral part of bringing minimally invasive valve surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (or TAVR), to Chattanooga, an act that drastically changed the face of cardiac surgery and created options for patients previously labeled “inoperable”.
Dr. Morrison’s practice has been devoted to performing complicated, high-risk procedures, including redo procedures and complex aortic reconstructions. His goal is to provide an elite level of cardiac surgical services to Chattanooga and the surrounding areas. Practicing medicine on the front lines of technology does not come without its trials and tribulations. However, when your goal, at the end of the day, is to improve the quality of lives of those you treat, the “what if”s that accompany high-risk medical procedures diminishes.
