Craniofacial Pediatric Plastic Surgery Fellowship

In addition to our team of plastic surgeons, our core faculty includes a full-time fellowship-trained craniofacial orthodontist, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon (OMFS) and a craniofacial neurosurgeon. Together, they provide 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.

UC Irvine/CHOC offers the Craniofacial Pediatric Plastic Surgery 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 fellowship 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 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 and skill transfer. The fellow also has multiple opportunities to engage in global clinical and academic outreach and can work closely with two to three UCI/Global Smile Foundation International Research fellows.