Education » Surgical Residencies » Plastic Surgery Residency Program

Mission

  • To provide compassionate, state-of-the-art advanced Plastic Surgical clinical care to the citizens of South Texas and the surrounding region.
  • To provide the best educational experience possible in the art and science of plastic surgery and produce caring, competent, well-educated practitioners of plastic surgery who will contribute and advance the field of plastic surgery.
  • To provide education in the art and science of plastic surgery to the community-at-large and to the medical students of the UT Health San Antonio Medical School.
  • To advance the art and science of plastic surgery through scholarly research and development of new ideas within the broad and diverse fields of plastic surgery including: wound healing, reconstructive and microsurgery, craniomaxillofacial surgery, oncology, and aesthetic surgery.

Program Organization

UT Health San Antonio is the parent institution and the primary teaching facility for the plastic surgery training program. The Division of Plastic Surgery in the Department of Surgery provides the formal educational program based in the University tradition. The principal goal is to provide a broad-based experience in the principles and practice of plastic surgery. The curriculum is sequenced so that all topics of the plastic surgery core curriculum, as described in the Comprehensive Plastic Surgery Curriculum, are presented in a three-year cycle.

ACGME Certification

On July 1, 1998, the ACGME and the RRC for Plastic Surgery (composed of representatives of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, and the AAMC Council on Medical Education) granted the UT Health San Antonio Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program provisional accreditation. As the Wilford Hall Medical Center training program in Plastic Surgery closed its doors in 1998, its residents completed their training under the auspices of the UT Health San Antonio, Division of Plastic Surgery. We have now been granted full accreditation status following our ACGME site visit in May 2001.

Program Format

The length of training is an inclusive three years, an independent model, in which the last 12 months are spent as chief resident. Two residents are selected per year through the plastic surgery match program. All the residents will have fulfilled the basic requirements as set forth by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. The prospective applicants are notified, in a letter, of the length of training at the time that they request an application for our program.

The strength of our residency program includes the breadth of training in all subspecialties within plastic surgery, including microvascular reconstruction, craniofacial and pediatric plastic surgery, hand surgery, and aesthetic surgery.

Educational Goals and Objectives

The educational goals of the Division of Plastic Surgery at UT Health San Antonio are to encourage residents to embrace the process of self-motivated learning and lifelong education. Mastery of the art and science of plastic surgery is the ultimate goal. This will be accomplished by developing a solid foundation of fundamental plastic surgery principles in the first year of training. This knowledge will be added to an existing infrastructure of sound understanding and practice of basic medical and surgical principles. The Comprehensive Plastic Surgery Curriculum as outlined by the Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery will be utilized as one vehicle for the achievement of these goals. We encourage the development, expansion, and application of these fundamental plastic surgical principles in various clinical situations, for all anatomic regions of the human body, in a logical and ethical manner.

The Division of Plastic Surgery at UT Health San Antonio has an ACGME accredited independent program in plastic and reconstructive surgery which offers outstanding training in all aspects of our field.  We are pleased to provide our services to the San Antonio Community.
Howard Wang, M.D.,
Program Director, Plastic Surgery Residency