Education & Training

Stanford has a uniquely integrated seven-year program in plastic surgery. During these seven years, you will have the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time in the pursuit of plastic surgical knowledge and excellence. The faculty at Stanford all have a commitment to academic excellence.

The purpose of the next seven years is to broadly educate you so that you not only become experts in the numerous facets of our specialty, but also become world leaders in at least one and hopefully several areas of the specialty. Although mastering of the literature and technical expertise are required to achieve this, the drive for academic pursuits including research and publications are equally important. Individuals selecting our program are committing themselves to these pursuits. The prerequisite for completion of the program is presentation at a national, state, or chief residents' conference before or during their last year of residency. 

In addition, it is expected that you will start this in your third and fourth years of the program in order to be able to make contributions to our specialty. We hope that those of you who have a strong desire to achieve a high-level, academic plastic surgery education will choose our Stanford Plastic Surgery Program for your training. 

Education and Training

Weekly Conference

Formal teaching conference occurs each Tuesday evening from 4:30 pm until 7 pm.   Conference is divided into a core course focused on lecture style didactics followed by Grand Rounds gathering residents and faculty for a variety of topics.  In addition to weekly conference hosted at Stanford, each site and rotation has an hour or more of conference time per week with topics including: indications (pre-op conference), outcomes, quality assurance, journal club, and didactic teaching sessions.

National Conference Attendance

Residents are supported by the Division to attend two national or regional conferences per year where they have an accepted podium presentation.  In addition, PGY 3-6 residents attend one conference per year supported by the Division for professional development and team building with their co-residents.

Professional Development

Between the 3rd and 4th clinical training years, residents have a year long professional development experience. The goal of the professional development year is to uniquely position the resident to stand out among their peers by providing the resident with a tailored experience in plastic surgery.

International Trips

Residents are supported to attend 1-2 international outreach trips during their residency through a generous gift from Dr. Donald Laub founder of Interplast (now ReSurge International).  Laub Fellowship trips are 1-2 weeks through the world including sites in Central and South America, Asia, and Africa.  Residents travel with Stanford faculty or affiliated faculty to assure a safe and educational environment.  Additionally, PGY-5 residents have a week long international microsurgery trip to one of three world renowned sites for microsurgery.

Advocacy

Through a generous gift from the Troxel Family, one resident per year is selected to join the California Society of Plastic Surgeons advocacy group for trips to the CA state capital, Sacramento, and Washington DC along with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to advocate on policies important at the local, regional, and national levels.