Craniofacial Pediatric Plastic Surgery Fellowship

The Craniofacial Pediatric Plastic Surgery Fellowship is a one-year program providing comprehensive exposure to all areas of pediatric plastic surgery. 

As the only quaternary care, level-one trauma hospitals in Orange County, California, UCI Medical Center and CHOC Children’s Hospital serve a diverse population of over 3.5 million (and an equally large additional catchment). Fellows will learn from eight core faculty to develop mastery in all facets of craniofacial and pediatric plastic surgery. They will be deeply integrated into multiple interdisciplinary clinics. In addition to five plastic surgeons, core faculty include a full-time fellowship-trained craniofacial orthodontist, an OMFS, and a craniofacial neurosurgeon providing additional perspectives and hands-on training in NasoAlveolar Molding (NAM), virtual surgical planning, minimally invasive intracranial approaches, and more. Additionally, fellows can explore areas of personal interest with faculty who have expertise in facial reanimation, preservation rhinoplasty, neuroplastic reconstruction, complex facial trauma, migraine surgery, gender affirming surgery, microsurgical oncologic reconstruction, and pediatric brachial plexus/congenital extremity reconstruction. Microsurgical techniques are well-integrated across several facets of the fellowship.

UCI/CHOC offers the Craniofacial Fellow strong institutional support for research. The Department of Plastic Surgery’s Center for Tissue Engineering is a productive hub of basic science and translational research with several ongoing craniofacial studies and significant extramural funding. Two clinical research coordinators at CHOC assist the Fellow in all aspects of the scientific process, from IRB approval to manuscript preparation. The UCI/CHOC Craniofacial program is actively studying novel resorbable craniofacial implants, applications of AI/XR technologies, patient-reported psychosocial outcomes, sleep-disordered breathing, initiatives for sustainable surgery, child neglect/abuse, cartilage generation, tissue oxygenation, and much more.

In addition to salary and benefits at the PGY-7 level, the Fellowship provides additional funds to support conference travel, workshop training, research publications, and participation in overseas outreach. A particular focus of the fellowship is responsible, bidirectional global collaboration that fosters sustained knowledge/skill transfer. The fellow also has multiple opportunities to engage in global clinical and academic outreach and can work closely with 2-3 UCI/Global Smile Foundation International Research Fellows.

Contact Information:

Raj Vyas, M.D., FACS
Fellowship Director
Professor and Vice-Chair, UC Irvine Department of Plastic Surgery
Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, CHOC Children’s Hospital

Elena Quiroz-Carraby
Fellowship Coordinator
ecarraby@hs.uci.edu