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BK RANK LECTURE
Supported by the Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery
Professor Paul Cederna
University of Michigan, USA
Paul S. Cederna, M.D. is the Robert Oneal Professor of Plastic Surgery, Chief of the Section of Plastic Surgery, and Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. Academically, Dr. Cederna has received over $55,000,000 in research funding, authored over 400 manuscripts, published 31 chapters, and presented his work over 900 times at national and international meetings. He has received over 85 national research awards. Dr. Cederna has been the Chairman of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Chairman of the Plastic Surgery Research Council, President of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve, and President for the Plastic Surgery Foundation. He is currently President-Elect of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons.
ASPS DISTINGUISHED GUEST
Professor Peter Neligan
Former Chief of Plastic Surgery Division at the University of Washington, USA
Dr. Neligan graduated from Medical School in Dublin in 1975. He is former Chair of the University of Toronto Division of Plastic Surgery and former Wharton Chair in Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. In 2007 he moved to the University of Washington, Seattle, retiring as Professor Emeritus in 2021. Publications: 15 books, 108 book chapters, 217 peer-reviewed papers. He is Editor-in-Chief of the 6 Volume Plastic Surgery, which has become the standard text for Training Programs around the world. With Drs Jaume Masia and JP Hong he is co-director of the International Master’s degree in Lymphology by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Professor Jong-Woo Choi
University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Centre, South Korea
Dr. Jong-Woo Choi (J.W. Choi) was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. He earned a MD degree from Yonsei University in 1996. He pursued Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training at Severance Medical Center / Yonsei College of Medicine in Seoul and completed his residency. He continued on to the Medical College of Ulsan where he earned his PhD degree. He got the Master of Medical Management(MMM) degree in Marshall School of Business , University of Southern California (USC), US. He is a craniomaxillofacial surgeon and microsurgeon and professor & chair of plastic & reconstructive surgery in Seoul Asan Medical Center. His career goal is to contribute to restore the patients’ deformities and heal the patients with craniomaxillofacial surgery and microsurgery. To combine the craniofacial surgery and microsurgery has positioned himself to take on the most difficult reconstruction cases. He is recognized among international peers for his pioneering works on orthognathic surgery and craniofacial surgery such as surgery-first orthognathic surgery without presurgical orthodontic treatment, one-piece cranioplasty without Bandeau based on numerous SCI articles. In addition, he has also performed more than 1,200 cases of microsurgical head and neck reconstructions such as dynamic tongue and pharynx reconstruction using various perforator flaps. He also spends a great deal of time in research. His area of research is in bone regeneration using BMP-2, 3D printing scaffold and stem cells including computer simulation and 3D printing technology. He has participated in writing my books and the chapters including “Asian facial cosmetic surgery” of the new 1st, 2nd Edition Plastic Surgery Textbook authored by Peter Neligan. He has received numerous awards from the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (KSPRS). Between 2005 and 2010, he received the best paper awards 5 times from KSPRS. And he was selected as a “Young Plastic Surgeon of the Year” in 2008. He has been participating more than 10 international meetings a year as a lecturer. He was a international fellow of AOCMFS in Hanover, Germany under N.C. Gellrich and a visiting professor in department of plastic surgery in Stanford university, Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland and MD Anderson Medical Center between 2011 and 2012 with Sabine Girod, Eduardo Rodriguez and David Chang. He played a role as a Secretary General of International Society of Simulation Surgery (ISSIS). He is simultaneously serving and served as directors of scientific committees in 3 major societies of craniomaxillofacial surgery in Korea such as Korean society of Plastic and Reconstructive Sugeons(KSPRS), Korean Cleft palate and Craniofacial Associations (KCPCA) and Korean Society of Simulation Surgery (KSSIS). He is the current chair of Department of Plastic & Reconstructive surgery, Asan Medical Center, South Korea, which is the biggest hospital in South Korea. In addition, he is the editorial board in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Annals of Plastic Surgery, Journal of Craniofacial surgery and Archives of Aesthetic plastic surgery. He is a current craniofacial section editor of Archives of Plastic Surgery.
Professor Pei Rong Yu
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA
Dr. Yu is currently a professor and Chair in the Department of Plastic Surgery at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Yu made significant contributions in complex head and neck, tracheoesophageal reconstruction, and refinement of perforator flaps. He reported the first clinical use of IMAP flap in the literature in 2006, the first microsurgical tracheal reconstruction in the US in 2006, first to map the perforator anatomy of the AMT and the ulnar artery perforator flap. Due to his many contributions in this field, Dr Yu was awarded the Godina Traveling Fellow by ASRM in 2007 and the 2025 Buncke Lecturer.
INTERNATIONAL FACULTY
Associate Professor Summer Hanson
University of Chicago, USA
Summer E. Hanson, MD, PhD, FACS, is an Associate Professor and Director of Research in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Chicago. She specializes in breast reconstruction and lymphedema surgery. In parallel with clinical practice, Dr. Hanson has a translational research program investigating the oncologic safety of tissue regeneration engineered adipose therapeutics. autologous fat grafting. Her research explores the immunomodulatory effects of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) on tissue healing and regeneration through interaction with the native tissue environment. In addition, Dr Hanson is one of the Principal Investigators of the Bionic Breast Project, a multidisciplinary, NIH funded program focused on developing an implantable device to restore sensation after mastectomy.
Associate Professor Gemma Pons
Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Gemma Pons MD, PhD is a board-certified plastic surgeon from Barcelona, Spain. Currently, she is Head of the Microsurgery Unit of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona, and Associate Professor of the Department of Surgery at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She was graduated from Hospital Clinic medical school at Universitat de Barcelona and she undertook her Plastic Surgery training in Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona. She completed abroad her training in microsurgery: Plastic Surgery Department Universitair Ziukenheis Gent, Belgium (Prof. P. Blondeel), East Cooper Medical Center, Charleston, US (Dr. R.J. Allen) and The University Tokyo Hospital, Japan (Prof. I. Koshima). Later, she received her PhD degree in lymphatic super-microsurgery from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. As an accomplished clinician, her expertise focuses on reconstructive and aesthetic breast surgery, lymphedema surgery and super-microsurgery. She is author and co-author of multiple articles and book chapters and presents her work internationally. She is member of several scientific associations and she was awarded the EURAPS Best Paper 2022. She is actively involved in basic and clinical research projects, and teaching both at undergraduate and post-graduate level, being part of the educational board of the Reconstructive Microsurgery European School.
Dr Filip Stillaert
Ghent University Hospital, Belgium
Dr Filip Stillaert, FCCP comes from Cypress. He completed his medicine studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. After his medical training he specialised in general surgery and his special preference was for cardiovascular surgery. He went to Australia to take additional training in Tissue Engineering Research and Regenerative Medicine at the renowned Bernard O’Brien Institute of Microsurgery in Melbourne, Australia. He also studied at the University of Melbourne at St Vincent’s Hospital in microsurgery. He was trained by Professor Wayne Morrison, a pioneer in microsurgery. Upon his return from Australia, he completed an additional training in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the University Hospital in Ghent, Ghent University. He went through his specialisation years with Professor Monstrey, Professor Blondeel, Professor Hamdi and Professor Van Landuyt. . After this training he stayed at the University Hospital in Ghent and became a staff member. He has a special interest in reconstructive surgery and regenerative medicine and devoted himself in particular to the lipofilling technique. He did a lot of research in the field of adipose tissue, adipose tissue transplantation and attempts to grow fat in the laboratory. This led to numerous scientific publications in international leading medical journals.
