Women’s Medical Center traces its roots to the practice of Dr. Bill Coppage and William Hasty, established in East Point nearly 85 years ago. In 1964, they were joined by Dr. William “Bill” Kilpatrick, and in 1974 by Dr. G. Richard Moore, father of current partners and sisters, Drs. Elizabeth and Patricia Moore.

“Dr. Kilpatrick and my dad had very feminist wives,” says Dr. Elizabeth Moore. “They had different ideas about what the practice of OB/GYN should look like. They split off and created the practice of Women’s Medical Center in 1979.

The family’s roots on the Southside run deep. Dr. Elizabeth Moore says both her parents grew up in East Point, where their grandmother taught kindergarten. Multiple generations of women have had babies delivered by the same family of physicians.

“I’m (now) delivering patients, where my dad delivered the mom, or Dr. Coppage or Hasty delivered the grandma,” Dr. Elizabeth Moore says. “And we still have the medical records from those deliveries for the people who are still our patients.”

“I also have patients who were kindergartners in my grandma’s class. I have patients that were my elementary school teachers. My second grade teacher, the wife of a principal that I had. It circles back around to this is not just business. This is our community.”

When it came time to choose a career, Dr. Elizabeth Moore says, there were two choices: “I went back and forth between deciding to be a doctor or a teacher. I got a scholarship to Medical College of Pennsylvania. It had been an all-women’s medical school. I graduated first in my class, and got invited to a lunch with the first woman to ever get board certified in orthopedics in New England.”

After four years of medical school, followed up by four years of residency in Richmond, Va., Dr. Elizabeth Moore joined the practice in 1997, almost 20 years ago. Her sister, Dr. Patricia Moore, joined seven years later. And Dr. Ticaria Lipsey joined in 2012.

The first Certified Nurse Midwives joined the practice in 2000. Women’s Medical has also had a Physician Assistant with the practice since 2009, who sees both pregnant and gynecological patients. In January 2007, CNM Heather Cantrell delivered the first baby by midwife at Piedmont Fayette Hospital while the hospital’s Women’s Services Department was still operating on a very limited basis.

Most of the providers also live and are raising their children in Fayette County.

“You are likely to run into us at Publix or the soccer field,” Dr. Elizabeth Moore laughs.