THOMASVILLE — After 25 years in Thomasville, Dr. Sandra Reed figures she’s brought more than 2,000 lives into the world.

The obstetrics-gynecology specialist is leaving her practice at Shaw Center for Women’s Health to take a position at Emory University.

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity and career,” said Dr. Reed, who is from Douglas, and went to what was then called the Medical College of Georgia.

Dr. Reed came to Thomasville from MCG and was the first female OB-GYN here and one of the first female surgical physicians.

Her move to Emory will allow her to spend more time with her husband Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, who is the deputy chief medical officer with the American Cancer Society and lives in Atlanta. Her children also are up there, stretched along the I-20 corridor from Augusta to Atlanta to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, she pointed out.

“For 16 years, we’ve been doing the long-distance marriage,” she said. “I have an empty nest. It’s an opportunity and it’s time to take advantage of that.”

Dr. Reed will have a clinical practice at Emory and will have medical residents tagging along when she has surgeries.

“I’ll be teaching medical students who will rotate through,” she said. “It’s something that sort of fell into my lap.”

While Dr. Reed was looking to get closer to her husband and children, Emory sought a physician with a background in advocacy and was active in the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Dr. Reed also has been active in the Georgia OB-GYN Society and was president of the Medical Association of Georgia.

Reed currently is the secretary of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ District 4, which stretches from Georgia to Maryland.

“They wanted someone with that kind of experience to be a mentor and advocate for younger physicians and residents and students,” she said, “and to help Emory become more politically-attuned and active.”

As a female OB-GYN, Dr. Reed found that her patients were much more forthcoming about problems with her than they were with her male colleagues.

“Patients tell me all the time they talk to me about things they couldn’t talk about with their male primary care physician or their male OB-GYN,” she said. “They just feel so much more comfortable talking to a female because it’s women issues. Instead of bringing up what the issues are and what’s bothering them, they ignore it, which is not good. It’s been an opportunity for women to have that level of care and discuss important topics for themselves.”

With as many births as she has performed, Dr. Reed now has delivered the children of children she brought into the world.

“I always said that before that happened, I was going to stop obstetrics,” she joked. “I didn’t make it. There’s actually been two or three I delivered their babies and I delivered them. And one of them was a dad. I was in the room and he said, ‘Hey, Dr. Reed, my mother told me last night you delivered me,’ and I had delivered their daughter.”

However, Dr. Reed acknowledged the decision to leave Thomasville was far from easy.

“It’s bittersweet. Emotionally, it’s very difficult,” she said. “We both love Thomasville. It’s a great community. We have great friends. We have been accepted totally. I love my patients and I know I’m seeing them for the last time. I’ve been getting a lot of hugs, though. It’s wonderful to have had the support I’ve been given through the years and the last few months from my patients. They’re proud for me but sad for themselves.”

Editor Pat Donahue can be reached at (229) 226-2400 ext. 1806.