Meet Dr. Hertl
Catherine Hertl grew up in Fort Myers, Florida and remembers being interested in medicine since a very early age. Her grandmother, Catherine ‘the Rock’ Henke was an old school nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami who instilled a greater purpose in her serious, studious granddaughter. Dr. Hertl attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she excelled as a student-athlete and then went on to medical school in her home state at the University of Florida graduating magna cum laude. Dr. Hertl also studied painting and was driven creatively. Seeking to combine these interests with her medical training, she chose plastic surgery as a career. She trained in general surgery at the New England Deaconess Hospital, a Harvard University-affiliated hospital in Boston. After a 2-year research fellowship at Washington University, she learned her craft at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, one of the premier plastic surgery programs in the country.
There she met and married the ‘other Dr. Hertl’, a German transplant surgeon. In 1996, they chose to begin their working lives in Germany. Dr. Hertl practiced at the renowned Plastic Surgery Clinic in Kaiserswerth, Duesseldorf, under the mentorship of Dr. R. R. Olbrisch – The Pope of German Plastic Surgery. While there, Dr. Hertl honed her surgical skills and performed thousands of plastic surgical procedures, focusing on Breast, Body Contouring, and Cosmetic Surgery. She performed over a thousand silicone implant breast reconstruction and augmentation cases at a time when silicone implants were not widely used in the US. She trained and supervised many residents who are now successful plastic surgeons in their own rights. During her tenure there, Dr. Hertl became fluent in German and acquired the German board certification in Plastic Surgery.
In 2001, the Drs. Hertl returned to the US to join the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hertl brought her experience with silicone implants back to Boston where she was instrumental in reviving the use of these devices as the leading technique for breast reconstruction. For almost a decade, she continued to share her experience through teaching the many residents of the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery training program.
Although Dr. Hertl’s principle focus at the MGH was breast reconstruction, she maintained proficiency in cosmetic surgery. Seven years ago, she left the downtown MGH to pursue her long-held interest in aesthetic medicine, opening her own private plastic surgery practice on the North Shore. She lives on the Annisquam in Gloucester and enjoys gardening, knitting, friendship and the outdoors.
Dr. Hertl has operating and admitting privileges at these facilities:
Catherine Hertl grew up in Fort Myers, Florida and remembers being interested in medicine since a very early age. Her grandmother, Catherine ‘the Rock’ Henke was an old school nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami who instilled a greater purpose in her serious, studious granddaughter. Dr. Hertl attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she excelled as a student-athlete and then went on to medical school in her home state at the University of Florida graduating magna cum laude. Dr. Hertl also studied painting and was driven creatively. Seeking to combine these interests with her medical training, she chose plastic surgery as a career. She trained in general surgery at the New England Deaconess Hospital, a Harvard University-affiliated hospital in Boston. After a 2-year research fellowship at Washington University, she learned her craft at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, one of the premier plastic surgery programs in the country.
There she met and married the ‘other Dr. Hertl’, a German transplant surgeon. In 1996, they chose to begin their working lives in Germany. Dr. Hertl practiced at the renowned Plastic Surgery Clinic in Kaiserswerth, Duesseldorf, under the mentorship of Dr. R. R. Olbrisch – The Pope of German Plastic Surgery. While there, Dr. Hertl honed her surgical skills and performed thousands of plastic surgical procedures, focusing on Breast, Body Contouring, and Cosmetic Surgery. She performed over a thousand silicone implant breast reconstruction and augmentation cases at a time when silicone implants were not widely used in the US. She trained and supervised many residents who are now successful plastic surgeons in their own rights. During her tenure there, Dr. Hertl became fluent in German and acquired the German board certification in Plastic Surgery.
In 2001, the Drs. Hertl returned to the US to join the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Hertl brought her experience with silicone implants back to Boston where she was instrumental in reviving the use of these devices as the leading technique for breast reconstruction. For almost a decade, she continued to share her experience through teaching the many residents of the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery training program.
Although Dr. Hertl’s principle focus at the MGH was breast reconstruction, she maintained proficiency in cosmetic surgery. Seven years ago, she left the downtown MGH to pursue her long-held interest in aesthetic medicine, opening her own private plastic surgery practice on the North Shore. She lives on the Annisquam in Gloucester and enjoys gardening, knitting, friendship and the outdoors.
Dr. Hertl has operating and admitting privileges at these facilities:
- RUSH University Medical Center
- RUSH Surgicenter
- RUSH Oak Park Hospital
