Dr. Copeland obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Brown University in 1981 and attended the University of Connecticut Health Sciences School of Medicine on an Army Health Professions Scholarship Program, graduating in 1985. She did a Categorical Surgery internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and served as a General Medical Officer at the 121st Evac Hospital in Seoul, Korea for one year. She returned to Walter Reed and completed her General Surgery residency in 1991.
As a general surgeon Dr. Copeland’s first postings were to Dewitt Army Community Hospital in Fort Belvoir, VA, and then to the Institute for Surgical Research in San Antonio. Subsequently she spent five years at the AMEDD Center and School in San Antonio as an Instructor teaching Physician Assistant students, and was voted “Instructor of the Year” nine times. She was subsequently stationed at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and finally at USUHS as a Clinical Coordinator for medical students before retiring from the Army in 2005 at the rank of Colonel.
Since 2005 Dr. Copeland has been a civilian member of the USUHS faculty and served as the Clinical Coordinator at WRAMC and when it merged with Naval Medical Center Bethesda and became Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. In 2012 she was promoted to Clerkship Director of the Surgery Core Clerkship and was extensively involved in the curriculum reform effort at USUHS.
Dr. Copeland is an active clinician with a special interest in breast surgery and in educational research. She is a member of the Association for Surgical Education, and has participated in a Surgical Education Research Fellowship that examined medical students’ perceptions of the value of their clinical education.
Dr. Copeland is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine. She is a Fellow and a member of the Board of Regents of the American College of Surgeons, and a member of the Women in Surgery Committee of the ACS. She is a long time member of the Association of Women Surgeons, and served as the national President of that organization in 2008-2009.