Maria Siemionow | |
---|---|
Born | Maria Zofia Siemionow 3 May 1950 Krotoszyn, Poland |
Nationality | Polish |
Alma mater | Poznań University of Medical Sciences |
Known for | First near-total face transplant in the United States |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Medicine plastic surgery |
Institutions | University of Louisville School of Medicine University of Illinois Chicago |
Maria Siemionow (born 3 May 1950 in Krotoszyn, Poland) is a Polish transplant surgeon and scientist. She is known for leading a team of eight surgeons through the first near-total face transplant performed in the United States at the Cleveland Clinic in 2008. The patient, Connie Culp, a 45-year-old woman from a small town in Ohio, was exceedingly disfigured by a close range shotgun blast in 2004. The procedure took 22 hours. [1]
Siemionow practiced in Cleveland until 2014 when she was appointed Professor of Orthopedics and Director of Microsurgery Research at The University of Illinois, Chicago, Il, where she practices today. She is regarded as a world leader in nerve regeneration enhancement and in developing minimal immunosuppression regimens following transplantation. [2]
Born in Krotoszyn, Poland, in 1950, she earned her medical degree from Poznan Medical Academy in 1974, Poznan, Poland, [3] and completed a residency in orthopedics there. She earned her Ph.D. in microsurgery from the same institution in 1985 and "habilitation" in medical sciences in 1992. In 2007 the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, honored her with the title of professor. [4] She specializes in microsurgery, hand surgery, peripheral nerve surgery, transplantation and microsurgery research.
Dr. Siemionow worked as an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah in 1990. Siemionow was named Director of Plastic Surgery Research and Head of Microsurgical Training in the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Plastic Surgery in 1995 and served in that capacity until 2013. She was appointed Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2005. [3]
In 2003 Siemionow completed the first facial transplant on rats paving the way for the first US human face transplant which she undertook in 2008. [5] That same year she received an honorary academic appointment as Professor of Surgery at the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland.[ citation needed ]
She is President of the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation and is past president of the International Hand and Composite Tissue Allotransplantation Society and the American Society for Peripheral Nerve. She is a member of the Warrior Restoration Consortium, an academic-industry team focused on developing new treatments for wounded soldiers.[ citation needed ]
Siemionow has received the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (presented by Ambassador Robert Kupiecki) for her contribution to the development of microsurgery and transplantation medicine. [6] She was twice honored with the James Barrett Brown Award for best publication in a plastic surgery journal in 2004 and 2007. She also received the Folkert Belzeer Award in Transplantation for her work on transplantation and tolerance at the 6th Congress of the International Society for Organ Sharing in 2001. She is a recipient of the 2009 Cleveland Clinic Learner Research Award for Excellence for her transplantation research. Recent awards include the Polish Order of Merit (2009), the Commander's Cross Polonia Restituta award given by the President of Poland (2009), the American Association of Plastic Surgeons' Clinical Researcher of the Year Award (2010) and the Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Research Award from the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation (2010).[ citation needed ]
Siemionow's international awards include the SAPIENTI SAT Medal endorsed by the Ministry of Education of Poland (2012), the Casimir Funk National Science Award (2013), and the Honoris Causa Doctorat given by the Poznan University of Medical Sciences (2013). In 2014, she received the Great Immigrants Award from the Carnegie Foundation of New York. In 2015 she was awarded the Golden Hipolit statue by the Hipolit Cegielski Foundation, Poznan, Poland. She is a member of the Kosciuszko Foundation Collegium of Eminent Scientists of Polish Origin and Ancestry (2014). [7]
In May 2020, Siemionow was featured on The Times 'Science Power List'. [8]
Siemionow has over 330 scientific publications. She has edited multiple plastic surgery textbooks, one popular science book, and has contributed to 90 published book chapters. [4] She is on the editorial board of nine professional society journals and is an ad hoc reviewer for six professional society journals. Some of her contributions are:
A face transplant is a medical procedure to replace all or part of a person's face using tissue from a donor. Part of a field called "Vascularized Composite Tissue Allotransplantation" (VCA) it involves the transplantation of facial skin, the nasal structure, the nose, the lips, the muscles of facial movement used for expression, the nerves that provide sensation, and, potentially, the bones that support the face. The recipient of a face transplant will take life-long medications to suppress the immune system and fight off rejection.
Poznan University of Medical Sciences is a prominent Polish medical university, located in the city of Poznań in western Poland. It traces its beginnings to the foundation of Poznań University in 1919, and was formed as a separate institution in 1950. It gained the status of university in 2007.
Thomas Earl Starzl was an American physician, researcher, and expert on organ transplants. He performed the first human liver transplants, and has often been referred to as "the father of modern transplantation." A documentary, entitled "Burden of Genius," covering the medical and scientific advances spearheaded by Starzl himself, was released to the public in 2017 in a series of screenings. Dr. Starzl also penned his autobiography, "The Puzzle People: Memoirs Of A Transplant Surgeon," which was published in 1992.
Harry J. Buncke was an American plastic surgeon who has been called "The Father of Microsurgery" for his contributions in the history and development of reconstructive microsurgical procedures. He is a past president of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the International Society of Reconstructive Microsurgery, and the American Association of Plastic Surgery. He served as a clinical professor of surgery at both Stanford University and the University of California - San Francisco. He was the author of 15 movies and television tapes, four surgical textbooks, and more than 400 peer-reviewed publications.
Christian Medical College and Hospital, widely known as CMC Ludhiana, is a private, Christian minority-run teaching hospital and medical school in Ludhiana, India.
Peter Edward Michael Butler, FRCSI, FRCS, FRCS (Plast) is Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at University College London. He is consultant plastic surgeon and head of the face transplantation team at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust in London, United Kingdom. He is Director of the Charles Wolfson Center for Reconstructive Surgery at the Royal Free Hospital, which was launched in November by The Right Honourable George Osborne, MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer at No 11 Downing Street in November 2013.
Connie Culp was the first United States recipient of a partial face transplant, performed at the Cleveland Clinic in December 2008.
Tsitsino Shurgaya is a Georgian surgeon, born in Georgia who specializes in microsurgery of the face and neck. She is a facial nerve expert who treats facial paralysis and focuses her scientific research in all methods to rejuvenate the face and neck. She is one of the pioneers of facial rejuvenation in Russia and has devoted her life to studying the human face and all surgical and non-surgical methods to keep it looking younger and fight the onset of aging.
Lars Georg Svensson is a cardiac surgeon and the chairman of the heart and vascular institute at Cleveland Clinic. He is the Director of the Aorta Center, Director of the Marfan Syndrome and Connective Tissue Disorder Clinic, and is a professor of surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Case Western Reserve University. He is also the Director of Quality Outcomes and Process Improvement for the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Affiliate Cardiac Surgery Program at Cleveland Clinic.
Ömer Özkan is a Turkish plastic surgeon. An associate professor at the Akdeniz University in Antalya, he led the team that performed in 2012 the first full face transplant in Turkey.
Selahattin Özmen is a Turkish plastic surgeon and a full professor of plastic surgery at the Koç University School of Medicine, department of plastic surgery and American Hospital Department of Plastic Surgery in İstanbul. he performed Turkey's third face transplant in 2012 at Gazi University / Ankara.
Björn Dirk Krapohl is a German surgeon, specializing in plastic surgery and hand surgery at the University of Lübeck and the Charité in Berlin. He is known for his work in the fields of reconstructive microsurgery, hand surgery, and breast surgery.
Earl Ronald Owen AO (1934–2014) was an Australian microsurgeon and classical music specialist who led or assisted in many pioneering achievements in the field of microsurgery, including many "world firsts", such as the world's first finger reattachment, vasectomy reversal, fallopian tubal ligation, hand transplant, double-hand transplant and face transplant.
Daniel Evan Borsuk is a Canadian plastic surgeon in Montreal, Quebec, who is a pioneer in facial reconstruction. The first Canadian face transplant was performed under his leadership. He is also an advocate for pet safety and education, a supporter of universal health care, and an Officer of National Order of Québec.
Wei Fu-chan is a Taiwanese surgeon.
David A. Hidalgo is an American reconstructive and aesthetic plastic surgeon, author, and visual artist. He holds the academic title of Clinical Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
Paul S. Cederna is an American plastic surgeon who is 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.
Jan Nielubowicz was a Polish surgeon, regarded as one of the founders of modern Polish surgery and a pioneer of transplantology and vascular surgery. He conducted the first successful kidney transplantation surgery in Poland.
Eduardo De Jesus Rodriguez MD, DDS is a Cuban American plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and reconstructive transplant surgeon, who is known for his contribution to the field of facial transplantation and vascularized composite allotransplantation. Rodriguez practiced in Baltimore until 2013 when he was appointed the Helen L. Kimmel Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery and Chair of the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Health, where he serves as the director of the Face Transplant Program. Most recently, he led the team that performed the first simultaneous face and double hand transplantation, on August 12, 2020, on recipient Joe Dimeo, a 22-year-old man who suffered full-thickness burns to over 80% of his body after a high-speed car accident in 2018.
Susan E. Mackinnon is a Canadian plastic and reconstructive surgeon who is a pioneer in the field of peripheral nerve transfer and regeneration. She performed the world's first nerve allotransplantation in 1988. She is a past president of the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, the Plastic Surgery Research Council, and the American Association of Hand Surgery. As of 2022, she is the Minot Packer Fryer Professor of Plastic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, United States.