Dr. Edward Margulies moved to Highland Park in 1967 from Albany Medical Center to join the surgical practice of Irving Stein, Jr. and Hyman Lans.

In 1973, Dr. Margulies opened his own practice in Highland Park and this was the beginning of our current day group. Dr. Margulies developed a successful surgical practice based on efficient, personalized, and sensible surgical care. Commitment to the community and hospital were paramount to Dr. Margulies, who served as Chairman of the Department of Surgery as well as multiple hospital committee positions.
 

In 1980 Dr. Avram Kraft joined Dr. Margulies in practice after serving as Chairman of the Division of General Surgery at Cook County Hospital. Dr. Kraft brought a tremendous amount of surgical expertise to the community. He also was very active in the medical staff leadership serving as secretary of the medical staff and as Chairman of the Hospital Ethics Committee.

As the practice continued to grow they recruited Dr. Earl Norman in 1992. With his strong work ethic and warm personality he was an excellent fit into the group. In addition, he brought newer laparoscopic and open surgical techniques to the practice and community. His reputation has steadily grown to the point where he is now one of the busiest general surgeons at Highland Park Hospital.

After 20 years in the Park Avenue West office, the practice moved to the hospital campus by switching the office to the current medical office-building site in 1997. This provided greater access to the hospital for the doctors and more convenient access for the patients to the doctors and to the hospital facilities.

Dr. Stephen Haggerty joined the practice in 1999 in anticipation of Dr. Margulies' retirement. Dr. Haggerty had been in practice with a surgical group in Naperville, Illinois after completing General Surgery training at Rush Presbyterian in 1998. In addition to the wealth of knowledge and surgical techniques Dr. Haggerty brought to the practice, he also added energy and innovation.

In light of our growing patient population to the Northwest, our Libertyville office was opened in April 2000. We also joined the staff of Condell Medical Center and the Healthsouth Surgery Center at that time. We believe this gives our patients wide options for their care.
 

In July of 2000, Drs. Margulies and Kraft both retired from the practice of surgery. Dr. Haggerty and Norman continued to grow the business, thus they felt the need for a third surgeon after a year.

They recruited Dr. Barbara Loris, who joined the group May of 2001. She worked as an ICU nurse for several years before entering medical school at Rush Medical College in Chicago.

She received her surgical training at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and subsequently joined a breast surgeon at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. She practiced there for three years before joining our group. She has special interest in Breast cancer, gastrointestinal surgery and laparoscopy.

Dr. Earl Norman moved to Kalamazoo, Michgan on August 1, 2004 to take a faculty position at Michigan State University - Kalamazoo Center for Medical Science. He will provide surgical care and teach medical students and residents.