The six-year plastic surgery program at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) offers broad experience in general plastic surgery, including:
- Head-and-neck, trunk and lower extremity reconstruction
- Facial soft tissue trauma and fractures
- Cancer resection and reconstruction, including breast
- Surgery of the hand
- Cosmetic surgery of all types
- Burn reconstruction
- Microsurgical reconstruction
- Management of cleft lip/palate and other congenital/acquired deformities
As a plastic surgery resident at LVHN, you will see a wide variety of problems and be actively involved in trauma patient management as well as providing reconstructive support to a multidisciplinary oncologic team. You’ll care for a diverse population of patients on an inpatient and outpatient basis.
On-call responsibilities include coverage of the adult and children's emergency rooms as well as management of inpatients on the plastic surgery service. We cover 3 hospitals including the main campus on Cedar Crest, the 17th Street hospital and the Muhlenberg campus; all of which are within a 20 minute radius. An American College of Surgeons accredited Surgery Education Center provides you with the opportunity to receive formal hands-on training in microsurgery.
In PGY 4-6, 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 rotations in craniofacial surgery at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center during PGY4 and PGY5. Residents complete a rotation in microsurgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center during PGY5. Our residents also have been involved in many medical mission trips to Vietnam, Haiti and Peru.
Our residents have successfully matched into craniofacial, microsurgical and hand fellowships at some of the nation’s best programs.
Our residents have a five-year written and oral board-pass rate of 100 percent.
Overall, we are program of well-trained, caring and compassionate plastic surgeons that are ready for any operative challenges we may face once out in practice with complete confidence in our abilities. We are trained on the philosophy: Physician first, Surgeon second and Plastic Surgeon third. Emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning and the need to care for the entire person and no just a single problem.