Plastic Surgery Residency Program

UCSF Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

Welcome to UCSF! On behalf of Dr. Scott Hansen our Program Director and Dr. William Hoffman
our Chief of Plastic Surgery we are pleased that you have come for interviews with our program
today. The faculty wants to be sure that you are well informed regarding the program so that you
can make a knowledgeable decision for the match. However, the American Council of Academic
Plastic Surgeons (ACAPS) has voted that there should be no contact between programs and
applicants after the interviews to prevent any undue coercion, and we are complying with that
decision. You may contact our residents or Vanessa Hernandez (Vanessa.Hernandez@ucsf.edu)
if you have additional questions about the program after the interviews.

History: UCSF is the only campus in the University of California system that is solely devoted to
health sciences. There are schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy on campus; the
medical school is 156 years old this year. UCSF has one of the oldest plastic surgery residencies
in the country; it was established in 1951. The first chief of plastic surgery was Harry Blackfield,
followed by William Morris. Steven Miller (recent Chair of the ABMS) headed the program briefly.
Luis O. Vasconez took over in 1978; he and Dr. Mathes were the first full time faculty in plastic
surgery at UCSF. Stephen J. Mathes became Chief of Plastic surgery in 1985. Dr. Mathes directed
the program until 2005, when he stepped down as chief and was succeeded by Dr. William
Hoffman. Beginning originally as more of a private practice based program, the program has
expanded to the present 12 full time and over 20 clinical volunteer faculty.

Program Description: Our program started as a traditional independent training program, taking
graduates of general surgery training into a two year program of plastic surgery. When we began
taking medical students directly into a combined program in 1997, the two year format was
continued. We were approved by the Residency Review Committee for Plastic Surgery to expand
the program by an additional year in 2008. Beginning in 2013, we became a fully integrated
“categorical” six (6) year plastic surgery program.

In the first three years the program emphasizes broad and intensive training in all aspects of
general surgery. The preliminary training includes two years of training in general surgery over
the first three years. In addition, there are six months in dedicated plastic surgery rotations and
additional months of training in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Hand Surgery, Anesthesia and
Orthopedics. We work closely with the general surgery residency director to ensure the best
possible education in the three preliminary years.

The current rotations for the preliminary general surgery years are listed below:

• 1st year – OMFS VA Plastic/Hand, SFGH Neurosurg, Vasc Nights, Liver tx, SFGH Ortho, Trauma,
Plastics (UC), Vascular, VA Gen Surg, VA CT Surg.
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• 2nd year – Peds Surg, Blue Surg (GS), Trauma, Anesthesia, CPMC (GS), Liver on call, VA Gen Surg,
Plastics (SFGH), Vascular VA, Plastics/breast (MTZ)

• 3rd year – Vascular, SFGH Hand, Red Surg (GS) x2, Critical Care (SFGH), Breast, Trauma, Kidney tx

The research year comes between the three junior and three senior years. This is discussed in
more detail below.

The last 3 years of training in plastic surgery encompasses in-depth training in every aspect of the
specialty. Our plans for expanding the program by an additional year include new rotations at
three hospitals: St Mary’s Medical Center, St Francis Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital
Oakland. Adding an additional resident at San Francisco General Hospital completes the
additional year of rotations.

PGY4 UCSF Mt. Zion VA ZSFG SMMC UCSF Float

PGY5 ZSFG VAMC Mission ZSFG CPMC UCSF

Bay Davis
PGY6 ZSFG Mission UCSF Mt. Zion CPMC Derm
Bay Pacific

Graduates of our training program are comfortable handling the wide range of problems
presented to plastic surgeons from the tertiary care specialist in an academic practice through the
general plastic surgery practitioner in solo private practice. Approximately 2/3 of our graduates
in the past ten years have gone on to additional fellowship training. Graduates that do pursue
fellowships typically have sought training in hand surgery, microsurgery or pediatric/craniofacial
surgery at some of the best programs in the country. Graduates from our training program have
entered academic practice at major university hospitals (45%), including chiefs at three existing
programs, and solo or group private practice (55%).

One reason for the success of our training program is that our program does not have specialty
fellows except in microsurgery. Thus the plastic surgery residents are given primary responsibility
to care for the patients during their training without the additional layer of fellows.

Research
All residents are expected to participate in new and ongoing research projects during their time
in clinical training. Each resident is expected to prepare and publish one paper per year. All
graduating residents are expected to submit and present an abstract at the Senior Residents
Meeting of all graduating plastic surgery residents in the nation.

A dedicated research year is part of the training sequence, coming between the three preliminary
years and the three years of plastic surgery. Residents should identify their interests in the latter
part of their first or early part of their second years so that positions can be allocated in the
schedule to accommodate these interests. A second year in the lab can often be accommodated
but is not promised.
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The Division of Plastic Surgery has an active research group comprised of MDs, PhDs, and fellows
in training. The main focuses of research are in stem cell biology, wound healing, and vascular
anomalies. UCSF is usually 2nd or 3rd in total NIH funding in the nation and there are a myriad of
opportunities for collaboration or work in labs that are not directly related to plastic surgery.
Laboratories are located at UCSF, San Francisco General Hospital and the VA Medical Center.

Conferences
Weekly conferences present learning opportunities as well as a regular forum for interchange
among the residents and the faculty of the program.

There are three Wednesday morning conferences each month: the first Wednesday is a case
presentation (Portfolio) conference by a single resident each month, the second a “service”
conference (morbidity and mortality), the third a research conference. If there is a fifth
Wednesday, we generally schedule special topics and cosmetic surgery topics.

The weekly Wednesday morning seminar (To follow the above conference) consists of didactic
lectures covering the full spectrum of plastic surgery, generally given by full time or part time
faculty, including a number of lectures by members of other services (for example, skull base
surgery by an otolaryngologist, orthodontics talk for cleft lip and palate, oral surgery,
neurosurgery, anesthesia, among others). Some of the sessions are dedicated to the core
competencies of residency, such as professionalism or ethics as well.

There is a journal club once a month, which is held on campus with dinner. Each resident presents
an article from the prior month’s journal of plastic and reconstructive surgery. We use a topic
based approach which has been very successful.

Hand conference is a combined conference with orthopedics, and is held at Zuckerberg San
Francisco General Hospital on Tuesday afternoons.

We conduct a quarterly cosmetic lecture series to which we invite the visiting professors from the
ASPS and the ASAPS. Visiting professors in the past few years include Fred Menick, Robert Walton,
Ken Salyer, Jack Friedland, Jim Grotting, Neil Ford Jones, Joel Feldman, Glen Jelks, Phillip Blondeel,
Peter Rubin, John McCraw, Malcolm Lesavoy, Michael Yaremchuk, Jim Stuzin, and Paul Manson.
This is an evening lecture with dinner on a Thursday, with the residents spending most of the
following day with the professor as well.

Hospitals
UCSF Parnassus: The primary university hospital has over 500 beds, 28 inpatient operating rooms,
and 4 outpatient OR’s. The adult hospital is ranked #7 in the nation by US News and World Report
and #1 in California.

The emphasis in plastic surgery at UCSF hospital is on general reconstruction, including

microsurgery. Cosmetic surgery is done by most of the faculty at the University hospital and at St
Mary’s Medical Center.
In addition to these procedures, the senior resident assigned to UCSF Parnassus participates in
the resident cosmetic surgery clinic, supervised by Dr. James Romano and staffed by rotating
clinical faculty. This clinic provides low cost cosmetic surgery with the residents as the primary
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surgeon and with the clinical faculty supervising directly in the OR. This gives an excellent
experience in cosmetic surgery for our residents.

UCSF/Mount Zion: This is a smaller hospital that is part of the university system. The
Comprehensive Cancer Center is located at MTZ, which includes the Breast Care Center as well as
melanoma surgery. Dr. Robert Foster is the chief of Plastic Surgery at MTZ, where the surgical
emphasis is on breast reconstruction and general reconstruction after cancer extirpation. This
clinical practice is expected to move to Mission Bay in 2019.

UCSF Mission Bay Hospital: This is three (3) hospitals with shared central facilities – Betty Moore
Women and Children’s, Bakar Cancer Center, and Benioff Children’s Hospital. Pediatric plastic
surgery including cleft and craniofacial surgery, is done at this site as well as cancer reconstruction
(Colorectal Service).

The team at the Center for Craniofacial Anomalies meets weekly to evaluate complex pediatric
cases, and residents are included in this clinic. In addition, the Birthmarks and Vascular Anomalies
Clinic meet twice monthly at the new Children’s Hospital in conjunction with pediatric
dermatology and interventional radiology; we treat a large number of vascular anomalies that
come through this clinic.

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital: This is the level I trauma center for the city of San
Francisco, and also provides care for indigent patients within the city. The emphasis here is on
surgery for hand and maxillofacial trauma, reconstruction after trauma, particularly orthopedic
trauma, and general reconstruction as well. The opportunity to work at the ZSFG affords the
residents the ability to be the primary surgeon for these patients, with close attending supervision
in both the clinics and the OR. Dr. Scott Hansen is the chief of Plastic Surgery at ZSFG. A new
hospital was completed and opened in early 2016.

Veterans Hospital: The San Francisco VA Hospital is located at “Lands End”, on a promontory
overlooking the ocean. The hospital is fairly typical for a veterans’ hospital, with a preponderance
of vascular surgery and hand surgery. The chief of Plastic Surgery at the VAH is Dr. Pablo Leon.

Ralph K. Davies/California Pacific Medical Center: Each of the second year Plastic Surgery
residents spends two months working at the Buncke Clinic, where the emphasis is on hand and
microsurgery, including replantation. The third year Plastic Surgery residents each spend two
months at CPMC, including Davies, on a rotation that is largely elective and emphasizes working
with the private practice faculty, largely on cosmetic surgery. Dr. Greg Buncke is the site director
for the first year and Dr. Roger Friedenthal for the second rotation.

St Francis Hospital: is near downtown San Francisco and has the city’s largest burn unit, admitting
over 200 burns per year. We have a two-month rotation there for our residents, which will
provide them invaluable experience in burn treatment. In addition, some of the premier cosmetic
surgeons in the city work at this hospital and the rotation will give the residents a chance to
participate in their cases.
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Oakland Children’s Hospital: is a pediatric trauma center as well as an inner city pediatric hospital.
This hospital provides exposure to a unique system of healthcare, and there are approximately
300-400 plastic surgical cases a year done there. These include pediatric hand surgery as the
largest specialty component, as well as some cleft and craniofacial cases. This is the 4th largest
children’s hospital in the US. Dr. Paymon Rahgozar and Chau Tai operate and see patients at CHO.
There is no defined rotation yet but plans are underway to make this a clinical rotation.

Core Faculty:

William Y. Hoffman: Professor and Chief of the Division

Dr. Hoffman has been on the plastic surgery faculty at UCSF for 30+ years. He is Chief of the
Division and past program director of the residency program. He is the immediate past president
of ASMS. His primary expertise is in craniofacial surgery, pediatric plastic surgery, and facial
aesthetic surgery. Research interests include clinical outcomes in craniofacial surgery, and
hemangiomas.

Scott Hansen: Program Director and Professor of Surgery

Dr. Hansen is Chief of Plastic Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, Chief of Hand and
Microsurgery at UCSF and Program Director of the residency program. He is interested in hand
and microsurgery, and is heavily involved in structure and function of the Plastic Surgery Program
at UCSF. He treats primarily reconstructive patients at San Francisco General Hospital and the
UCSF-Parnassus Campus. He is the hand surgeon of the San Francisco Giants Baseball Team.

Robert Foster
Dr. Foster leads the clinical activities at the Cancer Center located at the UCSF-Mt Zion Campus.
His primary interest is breast reconstruction and he is currently involved in outcomes research in
this area.

Esther Kim
Dr. Kim joined our faculty in 2013 after a year as our microsurgery fellow. Her training was in
general surgery at UC Davis and plastic surgery at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. She is the Surgical
Director of the Transgender Program at UCSF.

Pablo Leon
Dr. Leon is Chief of Plastic Surgery and organizes resident training at the VA Medical Center. He
has special interest in head and neck reconstruction after cancer extirpation. Research areas are
in melanoma.

Jason Pomerantz
Dr. Pomerantz specializes in craniofacial plastic surgery. He attends primarily at Mission Bay and
UCSF. He is the clinical director of the Center for Craniofacial Anomalies. He also attends at San
Francisco General Hospital with a focus on craniomaxillofacial trauma. His research interests are
in stem cell biology; he has been awarded a $4M grant from the California Institute of
Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for his work with regenerating muscle units from stem cells and
recently obtained RO-1 funding from NIH for his work. He coordinates the monthly research
conference.
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Michael Terry
Dr. Terry joined the faculty in 2013, coming from Yale plastic surgery and hand fellowship at NYU.
He is working primarily at San Francisco General Hospital on hand surgery and general
reconstruction as well as transgender surgery at ZSFG. He has a clinical interest in hand and
peripheral nerve surgery. Research interests are in tendon healing.

David M. Young
Dr. Young has special interest in wound healing and burns. He heads the burn unit at San
Francisco General Hospital and has a practice in general reconstructive plastic surgery at the
UCSF-Parnassus and St. Mary’s campus.

Chau Tai
Dr. Tai is the Associate professor and Chief of Plastic Surgery at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital
Oakland. She completed the hand fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis and also
heads the practice in general reconstructive plastic surgery at the CHO location.

Merisa Piper
Dr. Piper joined our faculty in 2019. She completed her plastic surgery residency at UCSF then
completed her Microsurgery Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. She specializes in
microsurgery and complex and reconstruction. Her research interests lie in breast
reconstruction clinical outcomes, with focuses in oncoplastic surgery and microsurgery.

John Rose
Dr. Rose joined our faculty in 2021 as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgery at UCSF. He attended medical school at the University of California,
Irvine. From there, he obtained an MPH from Harvard. Dr. Rose completed his general surgery
residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. His plastic surgery training followed
at Johns Hopkins, and he just finished his microsurgical fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center.

Gregory Buncke: Residency Site-Director, The Buncke Clinic at California-Pacific Medical

Center (RK Davies Campus)
Dr. Buncke directs resident training at the microsurgery and hand surgery center at the RK Davies
Medical Campus. He is well known for his contributions to microsurgery.
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Volunteer Faculty:
The following faculty contributes significantly to residency education through their clinical
activities staffing various clinics in the UCSF/CPMC system, participation in teaching conferences,
and teaching residents in their own clinical practices. They all hold active clinical appointments
at UCSF.

Bernard S. Alpert
Tancredi D’Amore
Kyle Bickel
Rudy Buntic
K. Ning Chang*
Keith Denkler*
Roger Friedenthal*
Ronald Gruber
Gabriel Kind*
Charles Lee*
Te Ning Chang
Douglas Ousterhout
James Romano*
Lorne Rosenfield*
Bryant Toth
David Chang*
* Attendings in the Resident Cosmetic Clinic