Year 1
On the busy University Hospital service, the first-year resident is primarily responsible for the consult service and learns to evaluate a wide variety of adult plastic surgical problems. Highlights of the year include exposure to community plastic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital in a preceptorship with Dr. Louis Bucky and at Main Line Health with exposure to state of art cosmetic surgery. A two-month block is devoted to hand surgery on the orthopedic service and one month each for dermatologic surgery and burn surgery.
Year 2
This year of residency is dominated by six months on the University Hospital adult plastic surgery service performing a high volume of complex reconstructive surgery including dozens of microsurgical free flaps as the primary surgeon. A two-month preceptorship on hand surgery provides broad exposure to both routine and complex hand reconstruction with unparalleled exposure to pediatric hand surgery. A return to the community plastic surgery practices allows for increased responsibility and refinement of skills in cosmetic and general reconstructive surgery.
Year 3
For four months of this year, the resident runs the pediatric plastic surgery service at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the premier pediatric hospital in the country. Our faculty is nationally renowned for craniofacial, cleft and congenital hand surgery. Pediatric microvascular surgery and facial reanimation are other areas of particular expertise. In addition, each resident serves as the Executive Chief Resident for four months and runs the resident cosmetic clinic where they independently evaluate candidates for cosmetic surgery and schedule them for cosmetic surgery at a reduced rate, all under the guidance of the faculty. This serves as an invaluable bridge to independent practice upon graduation. Finally, another two months are spent honing skills in hand surgery, including complex procedures such as syndactyly repair and pollicization.