Plastic Surgery Residents

A welcome letter from our residents

Dear applicants,

Welcome and thank you for taking interest in the Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) Plastic Surgery Residency Program. We are excited to share our outstanding training program with you.

Our plastic surgery residency is one of the oldest in the country, a true testament to LVHN’s commitment to quality training and resident education. We are a close-knit team of hardworking and well-rounded people who look out for one another and encourage each other to be our best. Our work environment provides autonomy to thrive as growing clinicians and surgical trainees. The support we receive from our faculty, program director and administrative staff is excellent. We pride ourselves on mental health and overall resident well-being.

The operative experience, diversity of cases and autonomy we receive in our training are unmatched. You will leave this program as a well-trained, operatively sound surgeon who feels comfortable in the OR with the skills necessary to deal with any situation or complication. This includes microsurgery, hand surgery, craniofacial surgery and other reconstructive and cosmetic surgical cases.

From PGY-4 through PGY-6, you will see patients in the weekly plastic surgery clinic with attending supervision. Cases that meet operative criteria can be scheduled in attending block time. Chief resident cosmetic cases are scheduled through the clinic in collaboration with attending staff. The chief resident also has the opportunity to administer Botox and other injectables through the clinic. These cases are performed throughout the year and contribute to resident development.

You will have the opportunity to complete a rotation in craniofacial surgery at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center during PGY-2 and PGY-3. Residents complete a rotation in microsurgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center during PGY-4. This provides a great opportunity to not only get more experience in these areas, but to work with other plastic surgeons in varying settings to expand your armamentarium as a budding plastic surgeon.

Our residents have successfully matched into craniofacial, microsurgical, esthetic and hand fellowships at some of the nation’s best programs.

Our journey is long, but each day brings new inspiration, learning opportunities and memories that will last a lifetime. We are trained on the following philosophy: physician first, surgeon second and plastic surgeon third. We emphasize the importance of lifelong learning and the need to care for the entire person and not just a single problem.

We look forward to meeting many of you. Good luck with interview season, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Sincerely, Aaron, Jess, Wes, Mark, Harry and Kevin