Beverly Douglas began his acadmeic training at Vanderbilt; however, transferred to Princeton where he received Litt.B. degree. He enrolled at Vanderbilt Medical School in 1914 and completed two years before transferring to Johns Hopkins. After graduation from Hopkins he became the first and for many years the only plastic surgeon in Nashville. He served as clinical professor and later professor emeritus of plastic surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Douglas is known for his 'Beverly Douglas Operation,' a technique that he developed to save the lives of short-jawed infants. He has written extensively on the leg ulcer and spontaneous healing of severed arteries. He was also an inventor of some note. Dr. Douglas died on July 22, 1975.