Thank you for your interest in Vanderbilt Plastic Surgery
Although we have been training plastic surgeons since 1973, our training pathway evolved this year to now include an integrated program in addition to our well-established independent program. Going forward we will train two independent residents and one integrated resident each year for a total of 12 trainees. We have designed our program to seamlessly integrate trainees in both pathways. We are fortunate to have built the new integrated program exactly how we’d like, and at the same time maintain all the features of a top plastic surgery training program from our fellowship; these include: a large and diverse group of faculty, top-notch residents, and a large teaching hospitals with an abundance of training opportunities. An additional benefit of our long tradition of “fellowship” training is a learning environment that promotes a high level of graduated independence by our trainees. Residents are expected to see and treat each patient as their own.
Residents in our program have a large and diverse clinical volume in all areas of plastic surgery and they learn the full scope of reconstructive and aesthetic procedures at Vanderbilt. The Department has faculty with expertise in hand, adult and pediatric craniofacial, breast reconstruction and aesthetics, burn, gender affirmation, headache, operative and nonoperative facial aesthetics, body contouring and aesthetics, as well as reconstructive microsurgery. Residents participate in an assortment of off-service rotations, and have available elective time to take away rotations that further enhance their education. Residents also have assigned clinic responsibilities to provide continuity of care from their many operative cases. Chief residents run a clinic in which they can see reconstructive and aesthetic patients and book them for surgery under the indirect supervision of attending staff.
We encourage every resident to choose their own path, and although everyone is expected to participate in research and quality improvement, no one is forced to be a researcher if that is not their path. To encourage academic pursuits, residents have a generous travel budget for research presentations and a stipend for educational expenses as well. There is protected educational time on Thursday afternoon to ensure engagement with our residency curriculum. Our primary goal at Vanderbilt is to train outstanding plastic surgeons in whatever their chosen path will be, and we will help you to not only find that path but also to walk it.
It is a privilege for me to serve in this role as program director, and I hope you will consider our program here at Vanderbilt. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions (or feedback)
About our training program
Are you applying for integrated plastic surgery residency?
We are once again using the plastic surgery common application this year. We will not be accepting ERAS. Use this link: https://centralapp.accessgme.com to access.
Fellowship applications are accepted through the San Francisco Residency and Fellowship Matching Service (SF Match) (SF Match Hyperlink: https://www.sfmatch.org/)
Brian Drolet MD
Program Director
brian.c.drolet@vumc.org
Izabela Galdyn, MD
Associate Program Director
izabela.galdyn@vumc.org
Beth Benson
Residency Coordinator
beth.benson@vumc.org
