Dr. Carmen Kavali, a board-certified plastic surgeon and Founder of Monarch Plastic Surgery & Skin Renewal Center, was installed as President of the Medical Association of Atlanta (MAA) for 2025 – 2026 at the MAA Summer Gala at the Fox Theatre on July 19, 2025. Over 200 attendees celebrated the annual event, which is open to all MAA members, sponsors, and guests.

Established in 1854, the MAA has approximately 2,300 members and is the largest county medical society in Georgia. Dr. Kavali will succeed Dr. Cody McClatchey, co-founder and current internal medicine specialist at Piedmont Internal Medicine. 

Dr. Kavali grew up near Savannah, Georgia, then moved to Macon to attend Mercer University for eight years, first earning her Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Biomedical Engineering, then her Doctor of Medicine degree. She completed general surgery residency training at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Following this, she went on to complete her plastic surgery fellowship training at Wayne State University in Michigan. She opened her private practice, Kavali Plastic Surgery & Skin Renewal Center, and after twenty-one years she recently welcomed Dr. Teri Moak and renamed the practice to Monarch Plastic Surgery & Skin Renewal Center. Dr. Kavali is also on staff at Northside Hospital and Perimeter Surgery Center, both fully accredited surgical centers. She is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, the only plastic surgery board recognized and accredited by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Dr. Kavali has served on the Board of Directors of MAA since 2018, and on its Executive Committee since 2022. In addition to her MAA leadership, Dr. Kavali is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, The Aesthetic Society, the Board of Directors of the Medical Association of Georgia (MAG) and the Board of Directors for GAMPAC. She is a Past-President and current board member of the Georgia Society of Plastic Surgeons and a past Trustee of the Southeastern Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. She was recently elected to the Ethics Committee of The Aesthetic Society, a national plastic surgery specialty organization. 

As a long-time delegate to the MAG House of Delegates from MAA, she has championed policy to advance the profession and safekeep patients. Recently, she is most proud of her work as the Chair of the MAG Reference Committee that thoughtfully sculpted MAG policy regarding Certificate of Need. Her advocacy work led her to become a founding member and current president of Physicians for Patient Protection (PPP), a 501c3 organization whose mission is to ensure physician-led care for all patients and to promote truth and transparency regarding healthcare credentials. To advocate for that same mission on the state level, she also founded the Georgia Alliance for Patient Protection (GAPP). She is still most proud of GAPP’s work in the passage of the Healthcare Transparency Act of 2023, which protects the use of medical titles, medical specialties, and the use of the title “Doctor” in a clinical setting.

The thing she is most proud of, though, is her family. Dr. Kavali has been married to her husband, Erik, for 23 years. They have two children, one attending Georgia Tech and the other on a Division I volleyball scholarship to The College of William & Mary.

Dr. Kavali will be joined on next year’s Executive Committee by Dr. Shamie Das (Emory), named President-Elect, Dr. Anna Skold (The Southeast Permanente Medical Group), named Treasurer, and Dr. Jin Lee (Northside Hospital), named Secretary. Dr. McClatchey will continue to serve on the Executive Committee in a Board Chair capacity.

In addition to these positions, the MAA has added two new board members for 2025 – 2026. Dr. Delphanie Head (The Southeast Permanente Medical Group) and Dr. Kalindi Parikh (Piedmont) have agreed to serve on the board.