The Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone offers residents comprehensive training in a wide array of plastic surgery subspecialties, including aesthetic surgery, breast reconstruction, cleft lip and palate surgery, craniofacial and maxillofacial surgery, extremity reconstruction, facial trauma, hand surgery, head and neck reconstruction, microsurgery, nonsurgical aesthetics, and ophthalmic plastic surgery.

Each resident performs approximately 800 to 1,000 surgical procedures in each year of training. Under the leadership of Vishal D. Thanik, MD, residency program director, and Oriana D. Cohen, MD, associate residency program director, our department provides two residency pathways, a six-year integrated pathway and a three-year independent pathway.

Clinical Training

Comprehensive training in plastic and hand surgery is obtained through rotations at five sites: NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion, NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn, NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, the Manhattan campus of the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, and the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Surgeons at these training sites perform an average of 25 to 30 procedures a day, and the inpatient census is approximately 50 to 75. All major teaching sites have active resident clinics.

Didactic Program

In addition to bedside, operating room, and clinical teaching, educational activities include formal conferences; weekly lectures by faculty, visiting professors, and guest lecturers; and attendance at special courses and symposia organized by members of our department, including the annual Aston Baker Cutting Edge Aesthetic Symposium, NYU Breast Symposium, and the State of the Art: Facial Reconstruction and Transplantation conference.

Dissection Courses

In 2018, our department opened the first cadaver education tissue lab and seminar room at NYU Langone’s Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center. This state-of-the-art facility hosts a variety of tissue dissection courses throughout the year to enhance the surgical training curriculum. The lab includes multiple dissection stations, each outfitted with advanced technology to optimize the learning experience. Students will be able to view and present in an adjacent seminar room separate from the lab. To reserve the lab and seminar room, please contact G. Leslie Bernstein, administrator, at g.leslie.bernstein@nyulangone.org.

Research Opportunities for Residents

Our department encourages all residents to participate in clinical and basic science research. Fully equipped laboratories are available for research in composite tissue allotransplantation, microsurgery, wound healing, craniofacial growth and development, computer imaging, and fat grafting.

Residency Pathways

Our department graduates four residents per year, three from the six-year integrated pathway and one from the traditional three-year independent pathway.

Integrated Pathway

The integrated pathway is open to applicants who have completed prerequisite medical degree training at an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)–approved institution.

The six-year integrated training program is designed to provide each resident with increasing levels of responsibility and the broadest possible experience in all areas of plastic surgery.

Following the integrated training paradigm, the first 3 years of the residency are spent completing 15 months of core surgery rotations, 9 months of rotations defined as “strongly recommended” by the ACGME Plastic Surgery Residency Review Committee, and 12 months dedicated to plastic and hand surgery rotations.

The “strongly recommended” rotations include anesthesia, dermatology, otorhinolaryngology, orthopedics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and oculoplastic surgery.

The core surgery rotations include breast and oncologic, abdominal and alimentary, pediatric, vascular, cardiothoracic, transplant, minimally invasive, and trauma and critical care surgery. Emergency medicine is also a core rotation.

In the fourth year, residents rotate for periods of three months on each of the following sites: the plastic surgery service at Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion, the plastic surgery service at Bellevue, the hand surgery service at Bellevue, and off campus at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where the focus is on postcancer reconstruction.

During the fifth year, residents spend three months as chief resident on the outpatient aesthetic surgery service in our department and three months as chief resident on the plastic surgery service at the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System. They also rotate for six months on the plastic surgery service at Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion.

The structure of the sixth year is similar to that of the fourth year. The resident serves as chief resident for three months on each of the following: the plastic surgery service at Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion, the plastic surgery service at Bellevue, the hand service at Bellevue, and the outpatient Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery aesthetic surgery service.

For more information, please view the rotation schedule for the six-year integrated residency program.

Independent Pathway

The independent pathway is available to applicants who have completed prerequisite surgical training as defined by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS).

The three-year independent training pathway is nearly identical to the fourth, fifth, and sixth years of the integrated pathway, the exception being that one month is spent at the Burn Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center during the first year.

Please see the rotation schedule for the three-year independent pathway residency program.

Residency Application Process

Please refer to the ACGME and ABPS for current residency eligibility requirements.

Integrated program applications need to be completed through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), also known as The Match. Applications to the independent program are made through SF Match’s Plastic Surgery Residency Matching Program.

Housing for Residents

NYU Grossman School of Medicine–subsidized housing is available to plastic surgery residents. Residents matching from out of the region receive priority, and wait-listed residents generally receive subsidized housing after the first academic year. NYU Grossman School of Medicine compensation is relatively generous, in recognition of the cost of housing in the region, and most residents live in off-campus apartments.

Contact Us

For further information about our residency program, please contact Carla Navarro, residency program coordinator, at carla.navarro@nyulangone.org or 212-263-8279.