The Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program at UT Southwestern began in 1969 with the appointment of one faculty member, who served as chair, one resident, and a secretary  as a Division of the Department of Surgery. Now, there are fourteen faculty members, more than twenty-five clinical faculty attendings, eight full-time residents, four full-time fellows, and thirty-two administrative and support personnel.

Before 1969 plastic and reconstructive surgical care was provided by attending clinical faculty at Parkland Memorial Hospital, most notably by Dr. Ted Mills. In 1969 G. Tom Shires, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Surgery, appointed one of his former residents, Kenneth E. Salyer, to the faculty at the rank of Assistant Professor and Chairman of the new Division of Plastic Surgery. Over the ensuing years, Salyer developed a national reputation in the clinical arena of craniofacial surgery. In 1977 Salyer decided to pursue his future in private practice.

In 1978 another former resident of Dr. Shires and UT Southwestern graduate was aggressively recruited to the faculty and appointed as Associate Professor and Interim Chairman of the Division. Fritz E. Barton, Jr., M.D. finished his general surgery residency training at UT Southwestern and after serving as a surgeon in Vietnam completed the plastic surgery residency training program at New York University. He returned to Dallas in 1976 and immediately became an integral part of the Division's growth as a clinical faculty member. Dr. Barton had already earned national and international recognition as a superb clinical surgeon and also as an outstanding medical educator. Under his leadership he launched the first publication of Selected Readings in Plastic Surgery in 1978.

In 1980 Fritz Barton accepted the appointment of Professor and Chairman of the Division. Recognizing that a program is only as good as the diversity and excellence of its faculty, over the ensuing 13 years, Dr. Barton was able to successfully recruit outstanding faculty that covered the entire spectrum of plastic surgery with the highest level of expertise and clinical competence. The faculty's reputation made the UT Southwestern training program the most sought after and has resulted in the highest caliber of residents being attracted to the program.

In 1986 the division launched a recruitment campaign to attract the most outstanding young academic plastic surgeon in the nation to the Dallas program. Dr. Rod J. Rohrich was selected from this process. He graduated Summa Cum Laude from college and medical school and received the highest honors from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the Michael E. DeBakey Excellence in Surgery Award in 1979. Dr. Rohrich went on to complete his general and plastic surgery training at the University of Michigan. He commenced a series of post doctoral fellowships which included a Pediatric Plastic Surgery Fellowship at Oxford University, Oxford, England; and a Craniofacial Fellowship at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. He then completed a Hand and Microsurgery Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School from 1985 to 1986.

In 1991 Dr. Fritz Barton, while maintaining his faculty status, stepped down as chairman and Dr. Rod J. Rohrich was appointed as Professor and Chairman of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. That year, the division was awarded the prestigious Crystal Charity Ball Distinguished Chair in Plastic Surgery - the only such chair in plastic surgery in the United States. Recognizing that the Division was continually cited as among the top three best training programs in the country, Dr. Rohrich's goal was to take the Division to another level of excellence in research that matched what had been achieved clinically and educationally under Dr. Barton. UT Southwestern Plastic Surgery attained departmental status in September, 1996. This major milestone makes it one of only three such departments in the country.

The Department of Plastic Surgery has attained excellence in all spheres -- Patient Care, Resident Education, and Basic Research -- and its growth is continuing rapidly. Under Dr. Rohrich's direction a close and beneficial relationship between basic science and other clinical departments has been established and an active plastic surgery research program initiated. In three state of the art basic science laboratories, the Department has active, well-funded basic and clinical research projects in advanced wound healing and innovative plastic surgery technology. Research is coordinated by Dr. Spencer Brown, a full-time Ph.D., assisted by laboratory technicians and multiple research fellows.