Richard Redett, M.D., has been appointed director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (P&RS) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. An internationally recognized physician, Redett has served as the department’s interim director since February 2019.

During his tenure as interim director, the department expanded its research portfolio, strengthened multidisciplinary clinical programs, enhanced its residency and fellowship programs, and further developed clinical and research collaborations with other Johns Hopkins Medicine departments. P&RS is recognized for its innovative surgical procedures — including hand, upper extremity and penis transplantations — as well as a soon-to-be-launched uterus transplant program.

The basic science and translational research program in P&RS includes activities in vascularized composite allotransplantation (transplantation of multiple tissues such as muscle, bone, nerve and skin as a functional unit — e.g., a hand or face), organ preservation, neurocranial implant technologies and peripheral nerve regeneration.

Redett is a graduate of Emory University and Dartmouth College’s school of medicine. He completed an internship and residency in general surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and a residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Johns Hopkins/University of Maryland combined plastic surgery residency program. He also was a pediatric plastic surgery fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Redett specializes in cleft lip and palate surgery, facial paralysis, brachial plexus injuries, and pediatric burn reconstruction. He also is the director of the Cleft Lip and Craniofacial Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and led the team that in March 2018 performed the world’s first total penis and scrotum transplant.