Mary Katherine Goodwin, MD, MA

Dr. Goodwin is a minimally invasive surgeon who believes in listening to patients and ensuring they understand their diagnoses and options for treatment.

Dr. Goodwin finds humor a great avenue for dialogue. She also has a passion for figuring out disease processes. Dr. Goodwin is married and has two boys. A native North Carolinian, she has lived in Asheville since 2003. She enjoys biking, travel, and building fires in the backyard with her family, and hosting international students.

Mary Katherine Goodwin

Qualifications

Education and Training

  • Residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology: Mountain Area Health Education Center, 2007
  • Doctor of Medicine: Wake Forest University School of Medicine 2003
  • Masters of Arts in Medical Geography: University of Washington, 1996
  • Bachelors of Science in Biology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 1993

Work Experience

  • Asheville Women’s Medical Center: 2007 to present

Professional Organizations

  • Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Leadership Roles

  • Clinical Assistant Professor for UNC School of Medicine
  • ICD-10 Transition for Asheville Women’s Medical Center

Community / Volunteer Activities

  • Peace Corps Volunteer (Health Educator and Guinea Worm Eradication) in Niger, West Africa: 1996 – 1998

Find out more about Dr. Goodwin

Describe yourself in 3 words. 

Funny, a good listener, direct

What was your first job? 

Working as a data entry person/ assistant to the pharmacy tech for a pharmacy

Who/what inspires you? 

My mother and father were/are still who inspire me the most.  My mom was way ahead of her time as a woman in the south and my dad is the reason I’m an OB/Gyn.  There are still people who lament his retirement from OB/Gyn in my hometown… 17 yrs later!

What do you never leave home without?

My reading glasses.  I never thought it’d happen to me.

What would you do if you had 2 free hours?

I never have 2 free hours.

Why did you choose to specialize in Ob/Gyn?

I love the mixture of office work/ building long term relationships with patients and surgery/delivering babies.  There isn’t another specialty that gets to be so diverse in what they get to do.

Do you have any hidden talents? 

I like to slaolm water-ski!

What is the best advice anyone has given you? 

After camp one year I was sad when one of my “best friends” from my 2 week summer camp wouldn’t write back to me.  My mom told me that I was going to meet a lot of people in my life and that it was paramount that I made good friends in every life experience… but that there was NO way I was going to be able to keep up with all of them – and that I couldn’t fret it all that much.  Be good friends, keep in touch for a while, learn something and be touched by that person but that it was OK to not keep in touch with them forever.  There will be a handful of people that I would end up on my “forever” list.  And that’s proven to be true.  So my anxiety level probably decreased by a bunch of points that day.

What is your favorite animal? 

Probably the giraffe.  They are so graceful when they run but take no flack – and can get you back just by licking you!

What do you like about living in Asheville? 

Everything.  The gracious people.  All the great restaurants. The good beer.

What was your favorite subject in school? 

Biology – I know, kind of boring, but not when you start reading those great “stories”.

Do you have a life motto? 

Other than the Golden Rule, not really.

What is on your “bucket list”? 

Getting back into doing something in the third world.  Not sure what that’s going to look like yet, if just medical missions with medicine or surgery or education programs.

What would your profession be if you weren’t a physician?  

I’d probably be doing something in medical geography/public health.

What music are you listening to now? 

My boys love Dirks Bentley – so by transitive power I love him too.  I love the 80s and grunge.  I lived in Seattle from 1993-1996 so will always love that era.

What is your favorite thing to eat? 

Taco Temple is a favorite restaurant…There is no way I can name ONE favorite thing.  I’ve always been a GOOD eater so I eat pretty much anything at least once.

Name one personal goal. 

To raise children that are loving, respectful, productive citizens.