Education

The Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program is a result of a merger of three pre-existing Harvard affiliated plastic surgery residency training programs in 1999.  Those three programs, based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Children’s Hospital (BWH/CH), and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), were fully accredited and independent training programs prior to the merger. The result is a combined training program that benefits from the tremendous and complimentary resources of each of these historically strong teaching institutions. Current residents in the combined program rotate among five of Boston’s finest teaching hospitals: the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Shriners Burns Hospital, Boston. These teaching hospitals have over 2,400 cumulative inpatient beds and over 8,000 resident-staffed plastic surgery cases per year. The diverse case mix covers the breadth of aesthetic surgery, breast, craniofacial reconstruction, cleft lip and palate, hand and upper extremity, lower extremity reconstruction, oncologic reconstruction of the head and neck, and the application of microsurgery in a number of these fields.

The mission of the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Training Program is to provide the highest quality plastic surgical care to patients in need, to provide the most comprehensive level of education and best training program for residents, students, and fellows in plastic surgery, and to further the science of plastic surgery through research. The aim of our residency program is to train residents in the art and science of plastic surgery through a comprehensive and well-rounded balance of structured education, research, and clinical experience. The ultimate goal is to produce excellent, ethical plastic surgeons capable of managing a wide spectrum of problems that can function at a superior level of competence throughout their careers, become leaders in our field, and further the course of our specialty. 

Overview:

The Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Residency has two tracks; the advanced or independent model for residents that have completed prerequisite training in another specialty, and an integrated program that combines prerequisite general surgery training at one of the main Harvard teaching hospitals with subsequent plastic surgery training.  The advanced and integrated residents work side by side in the final three years of training.

Advanced Program (PGY-4 through PGY-6 Years)

The advanced training program is an independent three-year residency open to applicants who will have completed prerequisite general surgery or other surgical specialty training in an ACGME accredited program prior to entering this program at the PGY-4 level. Maintaining an independent or advanced track allows the program to attract excellent candidates from diverse backgrounds that have decided to pursue further training in the field of plastic surgery.  Approved pathways to plastic surgery training include general surgery, oral surgery, otorhinolaryngology, urology, neurosurgery, and orthopedic surgery. 

Integrated Plastic Surgery/General Surgery Program (PGY-1 to PGY-6)

This integrated six-year program is open to applicants who have completed medical school. This program was initiated in 1999 and currently three residents are selected through the NRMP each year.  During the first three years of the program residents will complete the prerequisite general surgery training, as well as have exposure to basic concepts in plastic surgery through one of the Harvard affiliated teaching hospitals (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, or Massachussetts General Hospital). Upon completion of the first three years, the residency training during the PGY-4 through PGY-6 years will focus on plastic surgical residency training, functioning alongside residents in the advanced program.

In addition to rotations through the various General Surgery services at the respective hospitals, integrated residents also rotate through a variety of other services including anesthesia, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, dermatology, and oral-maxillofacial surgery. During the first three years of training, integrated residents also spend a significant number of months rotating through the divisions of plastic surgery at their respective teaching hospitals in order to establish early exposure to the field, and to establish early and lasting mentoring relationships with the faculty and more senior residents within these divisions.    

There is no distinction made between the integrated residents in their final three years of training and the advanced/independent residents. The PGY 4-6 rotations are through all the teaching hospitals and the residents work with all of the faculty in the combined program. All integrated residents are hired by and primarily credentialed at the sponsoring institution, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and they all receive the same pay and benefits despite their assignment to independent teaching hospitals in the first three years.

Operative experience:

Resident operative experience across the services in the Harvard program is tremendous. There are over 30 core faculty members in the Harvard plastic surgery teaching services. Member of our faculty have unique, specialized clinical and research interests; this variety provides a valuable resource, in and out of the operating room, for the comprehensive training of residents in the full breadth of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Residents track their cases on the acgme operative log (PSOL), and these logs are reviewed regularly by the Program Director to ensure that each resident’s operative experience is adequate in number and diversity of case mix. Residents in the Harvard program commonly graduate with caselog numbers that easily exceed the minimum number of required cases for board eligibility across all categories.

HARVARD COMBINED PLASTIC SURGERY RESIDENT OPERATIVE EXPERIENCE

* Average case log numbers for 2006 graduating residents, cumulative for PGY 4-6 years.

**  Residency Review Committee (RRC) minimum case log requirements for plastic surgery training.

Research: 

Each of the participating teaching hospitals in the Harvard Program has ongoing clinical investigations and productive basic science research laboratories.  Residents are required to participate in at least one scholarly activity per year in the form of clinical research, basic science research, or other writings under the supervision of plastic surgery staff. In addition, residents are required to have at least one significant long term project leading to a publication in their final 3 years.  All residents are encouraged to submit their work for presentation at regional and national meetings.  Each resident is given time and financial support to attend one national meeting in plastic surgery each year.  The chief resident class attends the senior resident conference each year.  Additional time and support for travel may be provided for residents that are presenting a paper at a meeting. While a period of dedicated research time is not designated by the Program, the possibility exists for select integrated residents to take time out between the third and forth PGY years to do research in an area of special interest with prior review and approval.  The majority of our faculty are involved in a variety of clinical and/or basic science research projects, and many play an active role in the organization and leadership of regional, national, and international meetings, as well as professional journals and societies. Residents benefit from the tremendous resources and collaborations with neighboring world-class researchers across the Harvard system.