Plastic Surgery Residency Program

The Plastic Surgery training program is designed to provide graduating residents with a comprehensive clinical experience and knowledge of the basic principles of plastic and reconstructive surgery. The operative and clinical experience available to the trainees is of sufficient volume and diversity to provide a broad and fundamental understanding of all aspects of the specialty.

Trainees rotate through five affiliated hospitals and on rotations that include aesthetics, trauma, pediatric/clefts/craniofacial, hand and upper extremity, and adult reconstructive surgery. There are also opportunities to rotate with plastic surgery sub-specialties in such areas as head and neck, oculoplastic, and primary burn care, and reconstruction (adult and pediatric).

More than 160,000 people are treated annually at the university's primary teaching facilities. UofL residents may participate in a wide array of patient treatment strategies and emerge from their time here with the confidence, knowledge, and experience to meet almost any professional challenge.

We also have specialized training facilities to assist the fellow in achieving educational goals. These include the Microsurgery Training Laboratory, Fresh Tissue Dissection and Surgical Practice Laboratory, and the Aesthetic Center. The fellows also actively participate in the busy basic science research that is ongoing in the Division. Our residents generally complete 1,500 cases over the 3-year training period. Regarding our graduates, approximately 25 percent enter academics, 25 percent pursue further fellowship training, and over the years we have had very high pass rates for Board Certification.

The University of Louisville Division of Plastic Surgery has a strong academic commitment that includes basic and clinical research. We are affiliated with some of the most productive research Laboratories in the nation and there is a vigorous basic science and clinical research program ongoing in the Division. This provides an important experience for all residents.

Call is every fourth day. Finally, through an extensive list of weekly conferences, monthly journal clubs, rounds, didactic lectures and symposia, fellows are optimally prepared for diverse clinical challenges in practice, as well as for In-Service Examinations and certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.