Notable Alums

Lawrence D.

Specialty: Obstetrics & Gynecology

Graduation Year: 1972

Lawrence D. Platt

Lawrence D. Platt, MD, ’72, is a renowned board certified obstetrician-gynecologist and maternal-fetal medicine specialist based in Los Angeles, California.

After receiving his Doctorate of Medicine degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine, he began his Internship and Residency training in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sinai Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, where he was selected as Chief Resident. He left Detroit in 1976 for southern California and began his Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. Upon completion of his fellowship, he was offered a full-time Faculty position where he attained the rank of Full Professor after only 7 years. After 14 years at the University of Southern California, he was recruited to be the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and to be the Vice Chairman of UCLA School of Medicine, where he remained for 11 years.

Dr. Platt is a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the National Board of Medical Examiners and holds a sub-specialty board certification in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. In addition to his private practice work, he is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is a former Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and currently on the Attending Staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Academic Consulting Staff at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica where he co-directs the division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

Throughout his academic career and in private practice, Dr. Platt has been a prolific author with more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, 63 chapters in medical textbooks and has written five textbooks to his credit. He continues to teach residents and fellows, many of whom have gone one to have successful careers of their own. An internationally and nationally sought after speaker, Dr. Platt lectures on the continual advances that are being made in obstetrics and gynecology, ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis. He has been involved with many international and nationally-based research projects and continues to be an innovator in maternal-fetal medicine. He has received numerous NIH and WHO funded grants.

Dr. Platt serves on numerous national and international committees of the major professional societies, including the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He also serves on the Biomarker Discovery Project Oversight Committee of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. In addition, he is a Founding Board Member and Treasurer for the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Foundation now called the Pregnancy Quality Foundation. He has served as President of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Los Angeles OB/GYN Society, and as Chairman of the OB/GYN Assembly of Southern California.

An active reviewer for numerous scientific publications, Dr. Platt holds or has held Editorial Board positions for the Journal of Maternal-Fetal Investigation, Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Journal of Reproductive Sciences and Polish Journal of Gynecological Investigations. He is an active member of numerous medical professional societies and was a founding editor of the international journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Platt tirelessly gives back to the community by serving as a Board Member or on the Corporate Board of Directors for a wide array of health-related foundations, businesses and facilities, as well as religious organization. He serves on the board for Touro College, a university with 18,000 students which includes the New York Medical College and four osteopathic medical schools, nursing schools and other health-related schools and other colleges. He also serves as the Chairman of Academic Affairs, is a member of the Audit Committee and Finance and Budget Committee for Touro College. In addition, Dr. Platt is currently a member of the board of directors for Young Israel Century City (Gabbai) and serves on the Ritual Committee and Chevra Kadisha Committee. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of American Friends of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the first large hospital to be located in the Western portion of Jerusalem and continues to be the city’s fastest growing and the only major medical facility in the center of Jerusalem. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Yeshiva Educational Systems. In addition, he is the co-chair and founder of Family of Loan Soldiers and the chair of the Los Angeles Lone Soldier Center.

He has also received a plethora of honors and accolades throughout his career, including being named annually to the “Best Doctors in Los Angeles” by Los Angeles Magazine and “Best Doctors in America” by Health Magazine. Among his awards, Dr. Platt has been awarded the William J. Fry Memorial Lecture Award and the Joseph H. Holmes Pioneer Award in Clinical Sciences for his significant contributions to the scientific progress and continued growth and development of medical diagnostic ultrasound from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. In 2008, Dr. Platt became the fourth American to receive the prestigious Ian Donald Gold Medal Award from the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. This award is named after Dr. Ian Donald who first used ultrasound on a pregnant woman in 1958, and is presented to recognize the outstanding scientific contributions to the field of ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology.