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.

Ashish Y. Mahajan, MD
Program Director
Assistant Professor

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 two options for applying to our program:

1. Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS); and/or
2. Plastic Surgery Common Application (PSCA)

Due to this recruitment season being a transition year from ERAS to PSCA, applicants may apply via whichever service they prefer, or they may apply via both services. No preference will be given to one application system over the other.

Applicants applying via PSCA are encouraged to review user guidance regarding the risks identified during the U of MN Vendor Security review of SurveyMonkey Apply. Additional information about the PSCA is available.

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

Note: We are accepting applications from both ERAS and PSCA. Applicants may apply to our program via one or both systems. No preference will be given to either system. 

Virtual Interview Overview

No in-person interviews or events will be scheduled for the 2023-2024 recruitment cycle, per ACAPS and University of Minnesota requirements.

Interview Dates

Virtual interviews will be conducted via Thalamus on the following dates:

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.

Note that you must be available for the full 4 hours and 35 minutes on your selected date in order to interview with us; no accommodations will be made for applicants to attend online events at other programs during the hours listed above.

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.

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.

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