Amir Dorafshar, M.B.Ch.B

Keith Weller

The American Association of Plastic Surgeons (AAPS) will give one of its two 2014 Academic Scholarship Awards to Amir Dorafshar, M.B.Ch.B., a  Johns Hopkins plastic and reconstructive surgeon who has helped pioneer facial transplants and rebuild the lives of adults and children disfigured by trauma and disease.

The annual awards, to be conferred officially on April 6 at the AAPS meeting in Miami, Fla., give a total of $60,000 over the next two years to each young investigator deemed most likely to advance knowledge in their field. The funds help them establish and support their own research laboratories at their home institutions.

“This prestigious award recognizes the early accomplishment and academic potential of Dr. Dorafshar and will greatly aid his research on tolerance induction in en bloc transplantation of chest wall. We are thrilled that our department faculty has won this most competitive national award for three straight years,” says W.P. Andrew Lee, M.D., the Milton T. Edgerton, M.D., Director and Professor of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dorafshar joined the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2009 and currently serves as an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery and as clinical co-director of the Face Transplant Program. He specializes in adult and pediatric craniofacial surgery and microsurgery to treat congenital, oncologic or traumatic conditions.

In 2012, Dorafshar was recognized by the Maryland General Assembly for helping lead a team of surgeons in performing a successful total face, double jaw and tongue transplant. In addition, the World Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery and the American Society for Reconstructive Transplantation has recognized Dorafshar for his work in facial transplantation.

Dorafshar is a member of the American Society of Craniofacial Surgery, the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association, and the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery and the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons. He has authored book chapters and published more than 75 peer-reviewed articles in basic and clinical science journals. “I am humbled that people recognize my work,” says Dorafshar.

Previous Johns Hopkins recipients were Chad Gordon, D.O., and Damon Cooney, M.D., Ph.D.