Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Integrated Residency
The mission of our program is to provide excellent clinical care in all aspects of the specialty and to use this clinical base to provide a robust and well-balanced educational experience for trainees at all levels.
We are particularly dedicated to educating the next generation of Plastic Surgeons to become exceptional clinicians, clear and insightful scientific thinkers, and generous citizens with unimpeachable ethical qualities and a dedication to service.
At the University of Minnesota, our goal is to provide outstanding training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery patient care, teaching, and research. We provide unparalleled mentoring from a diverse faculty who have a genuine interest in surgical education and the dynamic field of plastic surgery.
We are excited to partner with the Department of General Surgery to offer six years of training for future exceptional plastic surgeons.
For additional program information, please view our expanded listing available on FREIDA Online (ID: 3622600160). We are unable to participate in Doximity due to UMN-GME policy.
Director's Message

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
Eligibility & Application Requirements
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:
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.
Interviews
Application and Invitation Timeline
09/07/22 |
Applicants may begin submitting MyERAS applications to programs. |
09/16/22 |
PSCA closes for applicants. |
09/19/22 |
PSCA opens for programs. |
09/28/22 |
Programs may begin reviewing MyERAS applications, and MSPEs. |
10/23/22 |
ERAS deadline to apply to our program. ERAS applications submitted after this date will not be considered for an interview with our program. |
11/10/22 |
First round invitation notices to 40 applicants for 40 interview spots will be sent. |
11/14/22, 10:00 AM CT |
First round invitations to schedule interview via Thalamus will be sent. |
11/15/22 |
First round applicants must schedule interviews by this date. |
11/16/22 |
Additional rounds of interview invitations for unfilled spots will be sent beginning this date, and continue throughout the recruitment season. |
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 2022-2023 recruitment cycle, per ACAPS and University of Minnesota requirements.
Interview Dates
Virtual interviews will be conducted via Thalamus on the following dates:
Date |
Time |
Available Interview Spots |
Friday 01/27/23 |
12:00 - 4:35 PM CT |
10 |
Saturday 01/28/23 |
7:30 - 12:05 PM CT |
10 |
Friday 02/03/23 |
12:00 - 4:30 PM CT |
10 |
Saturday 02/04/23 |
7:30 - 12:05 PM CT |
10 |
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
Curriculum
This program offers a variety of didactic sessions. Residents are excused from clinical duties for all mandatory sessions. Additional curriculum details.
Research
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.
International Medical Mission Trips
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.
Where Residents Go
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
Stipend & 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
Verification of Training
Requests to verify a Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery resident's training at the University of Minnesota need to be emailed to moor2350@umn.edu or faxed to the attention of Verification Processing at 612-625-4411. For verification of subspecialty training, please contact the subspecialty directly.
To verify professional liability insurance information for a former UMN resident or fellow, find instructions on the Medical Malpractice Credentialing/Insurance Verification site.
Program Manual
For information that applies to all trainees, please consult the Graduate Medical Education Institution Policy Manual. For information that applies to Residents in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Program, refer to the Program Manual.