The Pediatric Plastic/Craniofacial Surgery Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Plastic Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is a six (6) or twelve (12) month program.  The level of training is PGY8.  This fellowship is under the direction of P. Craig Hobar, M.D. and H. Steve Byrd, M.D. who are committed to pediatric plastic surgery and craniofacial surgery.

This fellowship participates in the Craniofacial Fellow Matching Program which is sponsored by the Association of Academic Chairmen of Plastic Surgery and administered by August Colenbrander, M.D. in San Francisco, California.   The fellow will have to complete 3-to-5 years of general surgery training and 2-to-3 years of plastic surgery training before entering this advanced fellowship.

The program is designed to produce expertise in cleft/craniofacial and congenital surgery.  The majority of the fellowship training is at Children's Medical Center with responsibilities as follows:  1) attend and participate in all plastic surgery clinics, 2) coordinate and participate in daily rounds on all service patients and consults patients, 3) attend and participate in all craniofacial clinics at Children's Medical Center, 4) assure that all in-house consults are promptly evaluated and staffed and assure that appropriate follow-up ensues, 5) assure that all ER consults are promptly answered and cared for, 6) participate in all craniofacial and cleft surgical cases, 7) coordinate the development and use of radiologic facilities at Children's Medical Center (three dimensional CT scan, three dimensional MRI, and computer surgical planning) and, 8) coordinate helmet protocol between craniofacial team, radiology and prosthetics-orthotics program.

The fellow will initiate and complete at least one clinical and one basic science research project.  This fellow will work closely in presurgical and post surgical orthodontic care of the cleft patient.  Experience will be gained in adult craniofacial procedures through rotations at Baylor University Medical Center and Parkland Health and Hospital System.  The fellow will be under the direction of Dr. Rod Rohrich for craniofacial trauma while at Parkland Health and Hospital System.

In summary, the craniofacial fellow will gain extensive exposure to state of the art technique in: craniofacial surgery, cleft lip/palatesurgery, general pediatric plastic surgery, orthodontic treatment pertinent to craniofacial patients, radiologic imaging, and cranial molding with helmets.  He or she may have the opportunity to attend a major craniofacial meeting preferably as a presenter.  He or she will become knowledgeable in basic bone science research.  Finally, the fellow will understand the complexities of team management of craniofacial patients.