Curriculum
PGY1
The first year of residency, internship, is designed to provide a broad learning base throughout a wide range of surgical specialties. Still, these rotations have been hand selected by senior residents as those that were the most beneficial to their long-term education as plastic surgeons.
PGY2
The second year of residency is designed to build on internship, with progressive responsibility. It is during this time that residents rotate through the ICU and learn how to manage critically ill patients as well as triage patients while managing busy consult services. Residents are also exposed to greater breadth and responsibility within plastic surgery and related fields, including rotations on anesthesia and OMFS.
PGY3
The third year of residency is designed to further the knowledge and skills of the junior resident. Time spent on general surgery often includes chief responsibilities and significant operative volume. Similar to the second year, six months are spent within plastic surgery and related fields, with rotations in ENT and oculoplastics.
PGY4
The fourth year of residency is the beginning of the full-time immersion in plastic surgery. On the busy University Hospital service, the fourth-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.
PGY5
The fifth 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.
PGY6
The sixth year 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 sixth year 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.
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.
The Chief Cosmetics Clinic is a unique and integral part of the Penn Plastic Surgery training program, providing the highest quality care at a more affordable price for over 25 years. It is the only one of its kind in Philadelphia, providing the community with the most modern aesthetic techniques with safety as a main priority. Chief Residents have completed a minimum of five years of highly specialized training and are in their final year of training.
All consultations and surgical procedures are performed by chief residents and are supervised by esteemed Penn Plastic Surgery faculty. We are located at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine within the Penn Plastic Surgery practice.
Schedule an appointment today!
Visit the Chief Clinic appointment page and complete the form
Procedures
See the full array of procedures at Penn Medicine.
- Abdominoplasty
- Body Contouring
- BOTOX®
- Breast Implants
- Breast Lift
- Browlift
- Eyelid Surgery
- Facelift
- Fillers
- Gynecomastia
- Laser Skin Resurfacing
- Liposuction
- Nose Reshaping
- Scar Revision
- Spider Vein Treatment
Meet the Team
- Elizabeth B. Card, MD
- Carrie Zimmerman Morales, MD
- Robyn N. Rubenstein, MD
- Alexander T. Wilson, MD, PhD
Locations and Appointments
Penn Plastic Surgery
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
1 South Pavilion
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Call to schedule: 215-662-7300
PennMicro offers a novel approach to mastering microsurgical techniques outside the operating room. Recognizing that microsurgery demands a unique set of precise movements, we've designed a simple yet effective training method to practice anywhere, anytime. Our goal is to make practice uncomplicated: something that trainees can do in 5-10 minutes of downtime between cases or waiting for induction. This regular, easy-to-integrate routine ensures steady improvement and confidence in performing these highly specialized surgical techniques. With PennMicro, trainees can accelerate their learning curve for mastering one of the most challenging skills in surgical training. PennMicro website.
