The University of Minnesota has a tradition of excellence in the education of competent plastic surgeons. Our program offers exposure to all aspects of plastic surgery in a variety of settings. In addition to a traditional university setting, residents spend more than half of their time training in affiliated teaching hospitals and with private practice plastic surgeons in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Our integrated program includes general surgery training within the University of Minnesota Department of Surgery, one of the top in the nation, to complement our comprehensive plastic surgery training. The integrated model allows for expansion of the curriculum to include rotations the American Board of Plastic Surgery recommends for developing excellence in plastic surgery including orthopedics, ENT, oral surgery, burn surgery, anesthesia, dermatology, and oculoplastics.

Our city-wide faculty brings a diversity and breadth of exposure that makes us unique and allows our residents to develop into exceptional plastic surgeons. We welcome your interest and warmly invite you to contact us with specific questions.

Christopher Hillard, MD, MS
Program Director
 

ACGME Eligibility Requirements

An applicant must meet one of the following qualifications to be eligible for appointment to an ACGME-accredited program:

• graduation from a medical school in the United States or Canada, accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME)
• graduation from a college of osteopathic medicine in the United States, accredited by the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (AOACOCA)
• graduation from a medical school outside of the United States or Canada, and meeting one of the following additional qualifications;
  • holding a currently valid certificate from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) prior to appointment; or
  • holding a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in the United States licensing jurisdiction in which the ACGME-accredited program is located.

Visa Eligibility Requirements

Our program requires applicants to have either permanent residence, EAD, or J-1/J-2 visa. We do not sponsor H-1B visas. F-1, M-1 and O-1 are not acceptable visa types for a residency/fellowship program. Review the U of MN GME Visa Sponsorship Policy for further information: z.umn.edu/gmeimvisas.

Application Requirements

Eligible applicants have one option for applying to our program:

1. Plastic Surgery Common Application (PSCA)

For more information on the PSCA visit the PSCA FAQs page to learn more. Any additional questions or concerns should be addressed to [email protected].

Applicants may also submit an optional supplemental form to let us know if there are reasons why you are applying to the University of Minnesota in particular. These connections may or may not be evident from your application. This is completely optional; all applications will receive a holistic review by our Selection Committee, regardless of whether you submit this supplemental form.

All applicants must register with the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), regardless of their application method.

Application and Invitation Timeline

In-Person Interview Overview

Interview Dates

Social Event Friday, January 10, 2024 for all January interviewees
Social Event Friday, February 7, 2024 for all February interviewees
 

Specific dates are first-come, first-serve, but there will be a spot available for all applicants receiving an invitation.

These dates and times represent our full recruitment schedule; no other interview dates or times will be offered.

American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons (ACAPS) Recruitment Resources

• Applying to Plastic Surgery

  • PSCA FAQs

• Interview Dates

  • Interview Season FAQs

  • Invitation Policy 

• Letter of Recommendation Form-Integrated (PDF)

• Match Process FAQs

• Meet & Greet Schedule

• Post-Interview Communication Policy

• Preference Signaling FAQs

• Previous ACAPS Webinars

This program offers a variety of didactic sessions. Residents are excused from clinical duties for all mandatory sessions. Additional curriculum details.

(Ruth) Jo Barta, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor - Gillette Children’s Hospital 

Cenk Cayci, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor, VA Medical Center

Umar Choudry, MD -  Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Medical Center

Cherrie Heinrich, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor, Regions Hospital

Christopher Hillard, MD, MS  - Adjunct Assistant Professor, Program Director, Regions Hospital 

George Landis, MD - Adjunct Professor, North Memorial Hospital

Peter Letourneau, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor, Regions Hospital

Scott Loewenstein, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor, Regions Hospital

Ashish Mahajan, MD - Assistant Professor, Regions Hospital 

Jonathan McCue, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor, North Memorial Hospital

Minh-Doan Nguyen, MD, PhD - Adjunct Associate Professor, Associate Program Director, Regions Hospital 

Warren Schubert, MD - Professor, Regions Hospital

Thomas Suszynski, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Associate Program Director - University of Minnesota Medical Center

Allen Van Beek, MD - Adjunct Professor, North Memorial Hospital

Jon Witzke, MD - Adjunct Assistant Professor - North Memorial Hospital 
 

All residents are expected to participate in research projects during the course of their residency. Support, both financial and intellectual, is available to achieve this.

Quarterly research meetings with all the residents and some staff members are held to provide feedback on new or existing projects, monitor the progress of active projects, and helping achieve research goals. Additional financial support may be provided for presentations at national meetings and publications.

Research can be both clinical or bench-based depending on the project chosen. Most staff members will also be available and participating in these projects. Given the length of the integrated residency, it will be expected that multiple projects will be undertaken.

Members of our faculty and staff participate in medical missions to developing countries in Central and South America, India, and the Philippines.

These missions provide medical care to children who would otherwise remain untreated. Trips are scheduled an average of 3 times per year. The technical proficiency gained during mission trips, combined with didactic teaching and exposure to the multi-disciplinary cleft lip and palate clinic at the University result in an outstanding grounding in the treatment of congenital anomalies.

Residents are generally invited by faculty to attend these medical mission trips during their final years of training, but there is no guarantee of participation. However, due to of the frequency of trips and the superb experience provided by them, past residents have averaged at least one trip during the course of their training.

2024

Michelle Frees, MD - Hand Surgery Fellowship, Health Partners, St. Paul, MN
Matthew Rich, MD - Hand Surgery Fellowship, University of California, Irvine, CA

2023

Nicholas Garcia, MD - Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship, Inspire Aesthetics, Delray Beach, FL
Heidi Johng, MD - The Waldorf Center for Plastic Surgery  

2022

Bill Liu, MD - Sanford Health, Sioux Falls, SD
Sergey Toshinskiy, MD - Reconstructive Microsurgery Fellowship, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

2021

Vedant Borad, MD - Deaconess Health, Evansville, IN
Hooman Nikizad, MD - Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery Fellowship, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

2020

Christopher Stewart, MD - Aesthetic Surgery Fellowship, Movassaghi Plastic Surgery and Ziba Medical Spa, Eugene, OR
Emma Cordes, MD - Craniofacial Surgery Fellowship, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

2019

Christine Stewart, MD - Edina Plastic Surgery, Edina, MN

2018

Christopher Hillard, MD - Hand Surgery Fellowship, Buncke Clinic, CA

2017

Ruth Barta, MD - Craniofacial Surgery Fellowship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Jason Fowler, MD - Northland Plastic Surgery, Duluth, MN

• Base Rates and Policies
• Benefits

Additional Benefits

You will be provided with the following:

• Lab Coats
• Pagers
• On-site parking at all hospitals
• Hospital in-house call meal stipends
• Membership to ASPS Residents Forum and ASAPS Resident Program
• One-time reimbursement for select academic purchases (e.g. textbooks, surgical loupes)
• Discounted Technology Products
• Financial support to attend national conferences.

In addition, residents have access to the University of Minnesota’s on-line biomedical library, which provides free access to:

• MD Consult, UpToDate, Stat!Ref, PubMed
• Numerous online textbooks