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, gender-affirming surgery, hand surgery, head and neck reconstruction, microsurgery, nonsurgical aesthetics, and  ophthalmic plastic surgery.

Each resident graduates with approximately 2,000 surgical procedures over the course of training. Our residency program is run under the leadership of Oriana Cohen, MD, residency program director, and Daniel Ceradini, MD, associate residency program director.

We are dedicated to training today’s residents to be the next generation of leading surgeons, researchers, and academics. Meet our current residents.

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, NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, 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, we offer robust educational activities that include formal conferences; weekly lectures by faculty, visiting professors, and guest lecturers; journal club; and attendance at special courses and symposia organized by members of our department. We run an annual microsurgery course for the incoming PGY-4 residents and have freely available microscope access for practice in our dissection lab. We also have a yearly flap course that all residents participate in.

Dissection Courses

In 2018, our department opened our 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. Incorporated into the curriculum is a yearly flap course and monthly dissections with visiting and attending faculty. 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.

Program History

The Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone has a storied history dating back to its founding in 1955. Dr. Sherrell J. Aston, a professor and distinguished alumnus from NYU, recounted this history at the fourth Dr. Joseph G. McCarthy Lecture, on October 8, 2024, highlighting the many accomplishments of the department through the persistence and determination of our leadership, faculty, and residents.

Integrated Residency Pathway

The integrated residency 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 core surgery rotations and rotations defined as “strongly recommended” by the ACGME Plastic Surgery Residency Review Committee, with 17 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 third year, residents rotate on the body contouring service at Bellevue and the plastic surgery service at NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn.

In the fourth year, residents rotate for periods of three months on the plastic surgery service at Tisch Hospital and Kimmel Pavilion, the plastic surgery service at Bellevue, and the hand surgery service at Bellevue.

During the fifth year, residents spend three months 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.

Residency Application Process

Please refer to the ACGME and the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) for current residency eligibility requirements.

Our integrated residency pathway program only accepts applications through the Plastic Surgery Common Application (PSCA) and we participate in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), also known as The Match.

We will have five residency positions available in this year’s match. Interviews will be held in-person in the month of January. 

NRMP code is 2978362C0.

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.