Richard Byrd, MD, FACRS, is a Baton Rouge native who graduated from University High in 1973. After obtaining his bachelor of science in zoology at Louisiana State University, he attended LSU Medical School in Shreveport, La., where he obtained his medical doctorate in 1981. After a six-year general surgery residency, he completed a colon and rectal surgery fellowship, also in Shreveport. Dr. Byrd then spent two years in post graduate training in colon and rectal surgery with Jeff Griffin, MD, in New Orleans. Returning to his hometown of Baton Rouge in 1990, Dr. Byrd set up his own colonrectal surgery practice.

In 2003, Dr. Byrd, Jay Jhunjhunwala, MD, and Louis Barfield, MD, formed Baton Rouge Colon Rectal Associates. The practice later added Kelly Finan, MD, and Scott Daugherty, MD, and joined Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group.

Dr. Byrd has been a clinical professor of surgery at LSU since 1988, teaching residents and students at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge when these locations were still open and also at Our Lady of the Lake.

Dr. Byrd knew he wanted to be a doctor after admiring his father's work as a surgeon in Baton Rouge. He pursued a career in colorectal surgery because of his love for colonoscopies, both laparoscopic and open-abdominal surgery, and his strong belief that only colorectal surgeons can do proper anal rectal work. Dr. Byrd learned early in his career from his father, Dr. Millard Byrd, that to succeed in surgery, you need to specialize. He has never regretted specializing in colorectal surgery.