Through the ongoing dedication of Dr. John Lipman, the Atlanta Fibroid Center recently celebrated 20 years of offering non-invasive treatment of uterine fibroids.
By Jennifer Todd
Founded in 2005 by Dr. John Lipman, the Atlanta Fibroid Center specializes in treating symptomatic fibroids through a minimally invasive, outpatient Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE) procedure. Through the center’s dedication to providing UFE, more than 10,000 women have avoided hysterectomies.
In 2025, Dr. Lipman and Atlanta Fibroid Center celebrated 20 years of helping patients preserve their uteruses, while effectively treating fibroid symptoms. For more than 25 years, Dr. Lipman has focused exclusively on UFE. The 30-minute, outpatient procedure blocks blood flow to all uterine fibroids, causing them to shrink. This allows women to preserve their uteruses and maintain fertility options with minimal recovery time as compared to surgical alternatives, such as a myomectomy or hysterectomy. His revolutionary work has broadened awareness of non-surgical fibroid treatment and contributed to a national shift toward minimally invasive medical procedures.
As one of the world’s most experienced UFE physicians, Dr. Lipman completed medical training at Georgetown University in 1985. He fulfilled a radiology residency at Harvard Medical School and a fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Yale University School of Medicine. A crowning achievement, Dr. Lipman was awarded a Fellow of the Society of Interventional Radiology (FSIR) designation, an honor bestowed upon only 10 percent of members. He also is a Fellow of the American College of Radiology.
Dr. Lipman’s decision to work specifically in UFE came over 30 years ago, the result of his attending and speaking at a medical conference in Chicago, focused on embolizing cancerous tumors.
“I believe everything happens for a reason,” he says. “I did not normally attend this annual conference and haven’t attended since. Dr. Scott Goodwin gave a presentation on a revolutionary embolization procedure called Uterine Fibroid Embolization, or UFE, for the treatment of benign uterine fibroids. It seemed amazing, and because I’m in Atlanta, I knew I could help a lot of women.”
Dr. Lipman also believed he could help women of color, in particular, who disproportionately suffer from fibroids, to avoid unnecessary surgery. According to the UCLA Center for Reproductive Science Health and Education, up to 80 percent of women of color develop uterine fibroids during childbearing years, with symptoms such as heavy bleeding, pelvic pain, and urinary issues.
African American women are three-times more likely to develop fibroids, which are larger, more numerous, and more likely to be recommended for surgery than their white counterparts, according to National Institute of Health research.
“Fibroids affect African American women at disproportionately high rates, and many are not offered the full range of treatment options available to them,” Dr. Lipman says. “Our goal is to make sure that every woman has the information she deserves to make the choice that is right for her. In most cases, that choice is UFE, preserving her uterus and avoiding an unnecessary and irreversible hysterectomy.”
Despite being benign, fibroids are the number-one reason that women, whose average age is 40, undergo hysterectomies. Performing the UFE procedure is truly the life’s work of Dr. Lipman. During the last 20 years, he has cared only for women suffering from fibroids.
Highly decorated and dedicated
Dr. Lipman is not only a board-certified interventional radiologist and renowned authority in the non-surgical treatment of uterine fibroids, but also a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, and an award-winning public speaker. He has delivered over 200 invited lectures to some of the most prestigious medical centers in the country, including those at Harvard, Morehouse, Vanderbilt, and Yale. He serves as an adjunct clinical assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Morehouse School of Medicine as well.
Locally, he has served on the boards of directors of the Medical Association of Atlanta, Cobb County Medical Society, and Outpatient Endovascular and Interventional Society. In 2023, he was named president of the Southeastern Angiographic Society.
Dr. Lipman currently serves on the board of directors for Hosea Helps Feed The Hungry. He describes the work of the organization as a vital safety net for many Atlanta residents. Hosea Helps was founded in 1971 by Hosea Williams and is led today by his daughter and son-in-law, Elisabeth and Afemo Omilami.
“There is an increasing number of people in our community and elsewhere who are experiencing food insecurity,” Dr. Lipman says. “Hosea Helps is invaluable in providing food support as well as help with rent, energy bills, and job placement. The Omilamis are continuing the invaluable work begun in 1971 by Hosea Williams, whom I feel privileged to have known. When Hosea Helps was looking to expand their operations, my wife and I donated funds [$100,000] to make their new facility a reality.”
Four years later, they also assisted Hosea Helps with a fundraising campaign during the 20th anniversary celebration of the Atlanta Fibroid Center, which included the attendance of several celebrities, former patients, members of the industry, and government officials. The event raised $7,500 from ticket sales, which was matched by Dr. Lipman and his wife, Jayne, for a total of $15,000 for Hosea Helps.
A recognized leader
Dr. Lipman has been recognized in many ways by various entities in Atlanta and beyond. He was named the “Health Care Hero of the Year” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and a “Top Doc” by Atlanta Magazine. In 2019, he was named the Atlanta Medical Association’s “Trailblazer Physician of the Year,” and, in 2021, received the Vanguard Award for Philanthropy from Morehouse School of Medicine.
In 2024, Dr. Lipman was recognized by AmeriCorps and President Biden with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Community Service. He was also awarded the 2024 Frederick S. Keller, MD, Philanthropy Award by the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation.
The Atlanta Fibroid Center has received accolades as well. “We built the Atlanta Fibroid Center just over 10 years ago,” Dr. Lipman says. “It is a state-of-the-art medical center that has received numerous awards for excellence and outstanding service, having seen women from throughout the United States and even other countries.”
Dr. Lipman remains humble and is most proud of his philanthropic work, quoting Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” His community service and charitable giving to those most in need in the community are highly intentional.
“I have been caring for women in Atlanta for the past 35 years, primarily women of color, and we engage and participate both with our time and our money in the African American community,” he says. “The recognition of my medical accomplishments allows an opportunity to spread the important message that women suffering with fibroids do not need to undergo a hysterectomy to find the relief that they are looking for. They can, instead, opt for the nonsurgical UFE procedure.”
Addressing a critical need
Dr. Lipman believes every woman suffering from uterine fibroids deserves to know all of her treatment options, since nearly every woman who has been told that she needs surgery for her fibroids is a candidate for UFE. Covered by all medical insurance carriers, UFE was endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 2008. And yet, most women never hear about UFE from their doctors.
“Hysterectomy is a major surgery; it is essentially an amputation, and isn’t necessary to treat benign fibroids,” Dr. Lipman explains. “The average age at which a woman in the United States undergoes a hysterectomy is 39, and I have met way too many women less than 30 years of age who have had a hysterectomy for fibroids. None of them wanted a hysterectomy, but if you’re suffering and you don’t know about UFE, you may elect a hysterectomy to end your suffering.”
A purpose-driven facility
The Atlanta Fibroid Center is the region’s leading nonsurgical fibroid treatment center, with a dedicated angiographic suite (A procedure whereby a radio-opaque contrast agent is injected into a blood vessel so X-rays can be taken.) and individual, private rooms designed for comfortable patient recovery. The center’s reach extends far beyond Georgia, with 20 percent of patients traveling from across the United States and internationally for treatment.
Many arrive after years of limited options or conflicting information about treatment. The center serves as both a clinical resource and an educational hub, offering community seminars, informational tools, and ongoing patient support. This work also contributes to published research and public advocacy focused on reducing unnecessary surgeries and elevating awareness of minimally invasive alternatives.
The center is known for combining clinical expertise with respectful, individualized care. Patients frequently report that their lives were literally transformed following the UFE procedure. In fact, Georgia patients chose Atlanta Fibroid Center as a “Best of Georgia Physician Practice” in 2025. The statewide recognition reflects the center’s ongoing commitment to providing safe and effective alternatives to hysterectomy for women with uterine fibroids across the state.
“As a leader in the nonsurgical treatment of uterine fibroids, we’ll have numerous medical students, medical residents, attending physicians, members of industry and, occasionally, politicians wanting to tour our center and watch UFE procedures,” Lipman says. “We recently had a delegation from Nigeria visit the Atlanta Fibroid Center. It is not only important for current and future physicians to understand UFE, but also for the general public. This includes, in particular, politicians who can affect policy changes in women’s health.”
Lives forever changed
Having cared for more than 10,000 women, Dr. Lipman has no shortage of happy and grateful patients who sing his praises. Katy Sanders had a positive experience with Dr. Lipman and Atlanta Fibroid Center from the start.
“After experiencing the debilitating symptoms from uterine fibroids for so long, I had become anemic, depressed, fatigued, anxiety ridden and hopeless,” she says. “I came across Dr. Lipman’s website for Atlanta Fibroid Center. Every question I could think of was already answered in some way on his website, including questions I didn’t have at the time. Dr. Lipman is truly in the field of medicine for all the right reasons. He definitely gave me back my quality of my life!”
Another patient of Dr. Lipman, Elizabeth Perry, hopes to change the narrative around fibroids and adenomyosis, following years of failed treatments and interventions she experienced. Dr. Lipman and the Atlanta Fibroid Center offered a plan to normalize her reproductive health.
“I underwent more than 60 blood transfusions, a myomectomy, years of unanswered questions, medically induced menopause, innumerable hematology and gynecology appointments, and an anaphylactic reaction to an iron transfusion,” Perry says. “Dr. Lipman explained my treatment options in a manner that was not solely inclusive of surgery or a hysterectomy. I needed to know that my opinion and concerns were being heard and respected, and he did just that. I encourage women to advocate for themselves! There are options, and one of them includes Uterine Fibroid Embolization.”
Dr. John and Jayne Lipman are founders of the Free From Fibroids Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping eradicate healthcare disparities in fibroid treatment and funding groundbreaking fibroid research. Recent recipients include the Dr. Scott C. Goodwin Grant for Adenomyosis and the Dr. James B. Spies Global Summit on Uterine Fibroid and Adenomyosis Research.
Strong community support is maintained for area charities in homeless assistance and hunger relief, including Atlanta Mission, Hosea Helps, Project U First Inc., and Support Smyrna, as well as scholarships awarded at Morehouse School of Medicine.
Future goals for growth
Dr. Lipman aims to continue outreach within populations that experience higher fibroid prevalence, specifically African American women. He will advocate for treatment approaches that prioritize safety, effectiveness, and long-term well-being. Future growth is currently in motion, with more expansion on the horizon.
“I feel very blessed and privileged to have cared for women in Atlanta for over 30 years,” he says. “The last 20 years have been exclusively devoted to women suffering from symptomatic uterine fibroids. We recently opened our second center in Atlanta and a center in Richmond, Virginia. We also have several additional centers set to open in 2026.”
Atlanta Fibroid Center
3670 Highlands Parkway SE
Smyrna, GA 30082
678.679.7173
https://atlii.com
