Microsurgery Fellowship

The UC Irvine Microsurgery Fellowship trains surgeons who will acquire expertise in all aspects of microsurgery, with an emphasis on breast reconstruction, as well as lymphatic (supermicrosurgery), head & neck, hand & lower extremity, trauma and peripheral nerve reconstruction.

Fellows will conduct clinical training at our state-of-the-art academic hospitals and centers, including UCI Medical Center, UCI Health — Irvine and the UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer and Ambulatory Care building. UCI Medical Center is a level I trauma center and a comprehensive cancer center. It is the only academic medical center in Orange County and serves a diverse population. In 2025, UC Irvine acquired four hospitals to add to its growing healthcare system, opened a new cancer center & surgery center in Irvine and launched a new state-of-the-art all-electric hospital on the Irvine campus. The new hospital, UCI Health — Irvine, features a plastic surgery ward focused on microsurgery and complex reconstruction.

Our fellows perform over 120+ free flaps — a reconstruction surgery technique that involves moving tissue from one area of the body to another — per year, which does not include non-microsurgical cases. Opportunities are available for basic science and clinical research projects. Fellows should be eligible for appointment as Clinical Instructor and have a California medical license by the start of the fellowship. The fellow will work with a group of full-time faculty. In addition to clinical experience, fellows have opportunities for leadership and professional development through extensive programming, seminars and courses offered by the university.

Fellows are on call for plastic surgery no more than four times per month.

For interested applicants, please direct any inquiries to:

Cindy Rodriguez
Fellowship Coordinator
cynthgr2@hs.uci.edu