Barry J. Cohen, M.D.
* Born: Trenton, NJ., 1961
* Medical school: Georgetown University
* Residency: The Washington Hospital Center
* Plastic surgery training: The Long Island Plastic Surgical Group
* Hobbies and interests: commercial and residential real estate development (stems from his hobby of having vacation homes), being involved in the Jewish community, relaxing on his 37-foot Maxum Cruiser
* Wife and family: Liza, wife, and four children ages 2 to 7 years
He is one in a four-man plastic surgery group in Washington, D.C.; principal owner of a new medi spa in Maryland; chief executive officer of one of the largest physician-grade ecommerce skincare businesses on the Web; author of a new book; owner of a private label skincare line about to be launched in stores the likes of Neiman Marcus; a devoted husband and father of four; heavily involved in the Jewish community; and an owner of side businesses, including one in real-estate development.
And then there are other things.
Head spinning? Dr. Cohen, who does nothing in a small way but seems to be hands-on in every thing, is a master of time management and delegation. The high-energy entrepreneur learned early on to multi-task and seems fearless when it comes to going where no plastic surgeon has gone before.
"I guess that I have attention-deficit disorder. I cannot stand long-term problems. I tend to operate quickly, make decisions quickly and more quickly. I am a major risk-taker," he said.
Successful in high school
Dr. Cohen launched his first successful business (one he owns shares of today) while a sophomore in high school. He was working at an actuarial firm when he pitched to the owner the idea of technology. IBM had not yet marketed its first personal computer, but the Apple II existed, making computerization affordable for mom-and-pop operations. The company's president, who Dr. Cohen said ruled the company with an "iron fist," told Dr. Cohen that he would have a few minutes to tell the company's board why it should spend nearly $10,000 on technology. A bold, naive Cohen gut up and simply announced the company was in the "dark ages." So, goes the story of this landing his first technology assignment.
Out of that grew the company Innovative Programming Associates, which Dr. Cohen said is the world's largest provider of preclinical testing software for pharmaceutical research today.
Dr. Cohen, who came from modest means--his father was a newspaper manager and his mother a first-grade teacher--worked his way through college in the Late 1970s and '80s with the computer business.
Plastic surgery seemed the perfect fit for Dr. Cohen. He liked the idea of using technology, including three-dimensional imaging. He also liked the idea of helping people who were not necessarily sick, and getting immediate and positive impacts from his work. Dr. Cohen enjoys the diversity of plastic surgery, and focuses on breast augmentation and other cosmetic procedures, as well as burn reconstruction--his passion.
He was told that there were too many plastic surgery practices in the D.C. area, but that did not stop Dr. Cohen from founding the Washington Plastic Surgery Group. Dr. Cohen is a busy plastic surgeon. He performs about 500 breast augmentations a year, which makes him one of the top five augmentation surgeons in the country, according to Mentor Corp., maker of breast implants.
In June 2004, his group will be the first in the area to open a "medi-spa." "It is everything a day spa would offer, plus what you would normally find in a plastic surgeon's or dermatologist's office, such as laser hair removal, Botox injections, collagen, leg-vein injections, laser leg-vein removal, microdermabrasion and more," he said.
The medi-spa will occupy a 15,000-square-foot free-standing building, along with Dr. Cohen's group practice and the group's outpatient surgery center. On his spare time, Dr. Cohen developed the building, which is at "the geographic corner of Rockville and Potomac, Md."
The marriage of computer software with plastic surgery seemed an obvious thing to do; so, Dr. Cohen launched TotalSkinCare.com in the late 1990s. "These products were sold through doctors' offices, although nonprescriptive, at a very high markup. The barrier to entry was that you had to be a doctor to sell the products, and they were available in a very limited way. So it made sense to me to offer them over the Internet at a discount," he said.
Those were the days when such firms had big money but little profitability behind them. Dr. Cohen remembers learning the hard way that putting nearly $500,000 from his own pocket on glitzy advertising was not the way to go. His resilience paid off and when he refocused his efforts on marketing through ecommerce giant DrugStore.com and other Web avenues, his business blossomed to one of the biggest physician-grade skincare ecommerce sites. Today, TotalSkinCare.com's revenues are in the seven figures and it offers about 750 products, Dr. Cohen said.
Harold Kraft, chief executive officer, Pantheon Software, a company that does Web sites, ecommerce and internet marketing, is Dr. Cohen's ecommerce and Web site partner. Dr. Kraft, formerly a practicing anesthesiologist, said that what makes Dr. Cohen "uniquely successful" is approaching his skincare business as a business rather than as part or an extension of his medical practice. "Dr. Cohen is an intelligent, motivated and very high energy [person]. These qualities allow him to do both the practice and ecommerce well," Dr, Kraft said
And that's not all
Dr. Cohen realizes the potential of old-fashioned sales, despite his success on the Web. To reach the people who continue to go to the department stores for their skincare products, Dr. Cohen will soon launch his private label line, Surgeon's pHormula, in high-end department stores. He hired retail professional Jim Headley as his consultant chief operating officer. Headley is a former CEO of Obagi Medical Products Inc., and he, according to Dr. Cohen, took Obagi from a $1.5 million to a $15 million a year business.
According to Headley, Dr. Cohen has good instincts and a good concept of where he wants to be and how to get there. "He has a vision about where he wants to be and what he wants to do and he is astute enough to enlist and get help from professionals to get there," he said
The launch of Dr. Cohen's new book, "Total Rejuvenation from Skincare to Scalpel," will correspond with the release of the skincare line. The self-published book, offers what Dr. Cohen said is essential skincare and plastic surgery information to consumers.
Dr. Cohen said he takes "the Ronald Reagan approach: I surround myself with extremely competent people, and I don't sleep much."
Dr. Cohen continues to blaze new business trails. All of his businesses today, including a side commercial and residential real-estate-development company, are pieces of what he calls "the big puzzle." His ultimate goal is to open multiple resorts across the country. These would be destinations where people can go and have medi-spa experiences, get plastic surgery and enjoy elegant dining and resort-like environments. His 10-year plan is to open these resorts near major metropolitan areas, in beautiful places on the water or in the mountains.
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COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
