Franklin G. Morgan, Jr., MD, Obstetrics and Gynecology; and Patrick F. Morgan, MD, Otolaryngology
Dr. Franklin “Frank” Morgan still has a photograph of his younger son, Patrick, holding a stethoscope up to a stuffed Snoopy dog’s chest as a toddler.
Little did Dr. Morgan know that 30-odd years later, the father-son duo would both be physicians in Hampton Roads and fellow faculty members at the Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) at Old Dominion University.
The two have scrubbed into a surgery together, a C-section when Dr. Patrick Morgan was a third-year medical student at EVMS. Their on-call pagers once beeped simultaneously during a family get-together.
“It’s fun, especially because people think highly of him,” says Dr. Frank Morgan, 72, an OB/GYN and Community Faculty Instructor who has practiced locally for 42 years. “I have anesthesiologists tell me, ‘I worked with your son; he’s a great doctor and nice to everyone.’ It’s very cool and makes me proud.”
Dr. Patrick Morgan, 35, an Otolaryngologist and Assistant Professor at EVMS since 2022, has tried to emulate his dad’s empathetic, non-judgmental approach to patients and colleagues: “He has a way of putting people at ease that I really admire.”
A specialist in Head and Neck Cancer, the younger Dr. Morgan points to the C-section during his OB/GYN rotation as a highlight for both of them.
“I saw this whole other side of my dad,” he relates. “I had known him as my quirky, corny old man, but that day, I saw his command of the operating room. He took care of everything for his patient and team, but he was always respectful and kind.”
The Drs. Morgan have deep roots at EVMS. Dr. Frank Morgan, a native of Bedford, Va., did his internship and residency there after graduating from Medical College of Georgia in 1978. He joined his private practice, Mid-Atlantic Tidewater Physicians for Women, in 1982.
The elder Dr. Morgan has lost count of how many babies he has delivered and has cared for some patients for three-plus decades. Although he has retired from doing major surgeries and taking call for deliveries, he still does in-office appointments and minor procedures.
Dr. Patrick Morgan grew up in Norfolk – his mother is an emergency room nurse; his older brother went into Event Operations and Management – and was fascinated by medicine by middle school. One clear memory is looking at an X-ray of a teratoma that had grown into a tooth inside a woman’s ovary. “I also knew how much my dad was helping people,” he says.
We are always interested in sharing unique stories about doctors in our community. Please let us know if there are family member physicians practicing in our local area that you would like to see featured. Email: holly@hrphysician.com
