The integrated residency program in plastic surgery is fully approved by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The program begins with three years of surgery within the Department of Surgery and under the direction of the Division of Plastic Surgery. There is a mandatory research year. The final three years of the program focus on the practice of adult and pediatric plastic surgery. The distinguishing features of our program include a stable and well balanced program, the faculty, the outstanding residents, the laboratory year, a combined orthopaedic and plastic surgery hand service, a full year of pediatric plastic surgery contained within the residency, and a vibrant chief resident aesthetic surgery clinic. The program is seven years in length. The first three years of the program allow residents to participate in a wide range of patient care. Rotations include plastic surgery, anesthesia, surgical oncology, ICU, cardiac surgery, trauma, burn surgery, pediatric surgery, breast surgery, oral surgery, and intra-abdominal surgery. There is a night float system for many of the rotations. Plastic surgery rotations follow the traditional team approach with night call taken from home. After the laboratory year, the PGY-4 year is spent half at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH), and half at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center (VAMC). The time at the VAMC will be the first chance for the resident to play a leadership role in the care of the patient. The PGY-5 year comprises six months on the combined plastics/orthopaedics hand surgery service and six months at Children’s Memorial Hospital (CMH) performing pediatric plastic surgery. In the chief PGY-6 year, half of the year is at NMH and the other half at Shriners Hospital for Children—Chicago performing pediatric plastic and maxillofacial surgery. This final year provides chief resident experience with primary responsibility for patient care in both adult and pediatric patient populations. The residents attend at least one half day of clinic a week with one of the attendings of the division. There are active cleft teams at both Shriners Hospital and at Children’s Memorial. There are “resident-centered” clinics at Jesse Brown VAMC, Children’s Memorial, and the aesthetic surgery chief resident clinic. Two teaching conferences in addition to plastic surgery grand rounds are held weekly for the senior residents. The residents in the first three years of the program have their own conference once a month and attend grand rounds twice a month. There is a microsurgery course performed in the PGY-2 year and a skills lab for the interns. Residents attend one national meeting per year for the last three years of the residency and have the opportunity to attend up to two additional meetings if they are presenting a paper. The National Resident Matching Program processes applications in the fall of the fourth year of medical school. One set of applicant documents can be furnished through the Match. Northwestern does not require additional personal letters of recommendation but does not discourage them. A personal interview is required before acceptance. The division notifies applicants about interviews after reviewing all applications.
Thomas A. Mustoe, MD
Professor of Surgery
Gregory A. Dumanian, MD
Professor of Surgery Bruce S. Bauer, MD
Children's Memorial Hospital Gregory A. Dumanian, MD
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Neil A. Fine, MD
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Gerald D. Harris, MD
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Victor L. Lewis, MD
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Pravin K. Patel, MD
Shriners Hospital for Children
Children's Memorial Hospital For more information, contact the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 675 North St. Clair Street, Suite 19-250, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2923, 312/695-6022; fax 312/695-5672 or visit the Department of Surgery Web site.
E-mail: gdumania@nmh.org The division supports full-time PhD investigators and research fellows in its nationally known wound healing laboratory. Recent work to better understand the interplay between bacterial biofilms and delayed wound healing, and its treatment has received national attention. Other funded projects include work on the control of upper extremity prosthetics for amputees, and computer modeling of maxillofacial surgery. In addition to the laboratory year, each resident is expected to participate in three clinical projects resulting in publications over the course of the residency. | 
Plastic Surgery