Wendy-Ann's got the cutting edge

At age 39, Trinidadian-born Wendy-Ann Olivier,  Attending Surgeon at The Brooklyn Hospital Centre; Manhattan Eye, Ear, Throat Hospital  and New York Methodist Hospital, has been selected by Top Plastic Surgeons in the October 6, 2003 edition of New York’s The Cutting Edge as one of the field’s sharpest new talents. Says Wendy-Ann, the second of Joan (nee Noel) and Owen Olivier’s four children, from her Brooklyn, New York, home: “Wayne is the eldest, then my younger twin sisters are Karla and Karen, so I guess I am a middle child of sorts.” Her journey which started when she migrated to the United States at age five “would never have been possible without the love, support and example of my parents and grandparents.  Without them, I would never have developed a passion for knowledge or the desire to pursue my dreams,” she said.

Wendy-Ann attended Stuyvesant High School in New York, where she ran track —sprints, hurdles and long jump. Then went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (honours) with a double major in Biology and Science in Society. At College Wendy played varsity basketball, rowed crew and played with a rugby club. She later attended Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, and graduated MD  in 1991. From 1991 to 1998, Wendy received Post-Graduate Training as a Resident in General Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; and also a Postgraduate Research Fellow.  She then trained in Plastic Reconstructive Surgery and Microsurgery at the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, New York University Medical Centre. At age five, this now highly-qualified and respected surgeon had already decided that she wanted to be a physician.: “I  was always intrigued by science, the working of the human body and the ability to help and care for those in need. I initially was interested in paediatric surgery. However, a mentor convinced me to consider plastic surgery as a profession, and he was correct.  Plastic surgery was the perfect fit for me: a scientist by training and an artist at heart.”

Wendy-Ann’s artistic talents include painting, design and dance which she studied in her youth under Alvin Ailey. Her love of dance brings Wendy-Ann to Trinidad as often as she can for Carnival to play mas with Barbarossa and Mudders International. While growing up in Brooklyn, Wendy-Ann had to go outside the borough for many of her medical services. So, after her medical training, not wanting to be a typical plastic surgeon who sets up an office on Park Avenue in Manhattan and that’s it, she also set up an office in downtown Brooklyn to serve that community,  in addition to her office on Park. Wendy-Ann specialises in breast surgery which includes breast reconstruction recreating a breast for women with breast cancer; breast reduction for women with large breasts causing back and shoulder pains; breast lifts to reverse the effects of gravity and children; and breast augmentation.

Some of her other specialties are body contour, which includes lipsocution, tummy tuck (anything to improve the appearance, contour and balance of the body).  Facial cosmetic surgery: nose jobs, facelifts, eyelid surgery (anything to treat wrinkling and sagging faces), and problem scars. She also treats children with congenital abnormalities (birth defects) and says “my patients range from age three months to 97 years old.” Wendy-Ann has won numerous research awards at regional and national medical meetings; holds professional membership in the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association; and is a candidate for membership in the American Society of Plastic Surgery and  the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. She has published numerous articles in medical publications.  And has presented at medical fora across the United States from Florida through Atlanta, Louisiana, San Francisco and Hawaii ,just to name a few of the states.