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Plastic Surgery Research Day

This past year the Division of Plastic Surgery has welcomed two new members. Dr. Alexander Morzycki joins the ÌìÑÄÉçÇø Hospital and the Edmonton Firefighter’s Burn Treatment Unit after completing a Burn Surgical Critical Care fellowship at the University of Washington. Dr. Emilie Robertson joins the Royal Alexandra Hospital after completing a fellowship in Adult Craniofacial Surgery at the University of British Columbia. Additionally, the Division has undergone a change in leadership. Dr. Paul Schembri has been appointed Divisional Director of the Division of Plastic Surgery taking over from Dr. Jaret Olson who filled the role for 10 years. We thank Dr. Olson for his service. The newest member of the team is Lisa Trahan, who completed her master’s in nursing in 2016 at the ÌìÑÄÉçÇø with a Nurse Practitioner Family All Ages clinical focus. She has experience in primary care, GIM, ICU, addictions medicine and emergency medicine as an NP.  

Research in the burn unit was recognized when Dr. Justin Lee (PGY-2) was awarded the top paper of the year by the Journal of Burn Care and Research at this year’s American Burn Association. The paper titled “Comparing artificial intelligence guided image assessment to current methods of burn assessment” featured co-authors Dr. Alexander Morzycki and Dr. Joshua Wong.

The peripheral nerve research group has continued to be productive in the past year. Dr. Matthew Curran gave an invited presentation at the American Society for Peripheral Nerve Annual Meeting in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii after receiving the ASPN/PSF Grant. The successful grant was titled “ Does Osteocalcin Released During Exercise Impact Nerve Regeneration” and builds on a larger set of projects that demonstrates bone and nerve have important interactions on their respective function and recovery in collaboration with Drs. Karyne Rabey and Christine Webber. Dr. Hollie Power has been active in education with invited faculty positions on two international courses; Upper Extremity Nerve & Tendon Surgical Skills Course at Ohio State University and Functional Extremity Reconstruction at the Curtis National Hand Center/John Hopkins University.

The craniofacial team (Drs. Curtis Budden, Dr. Joshua DeSerres, Dr. Jay Zhu, Dr. Gorman Louie and Dr. Emilie Robertson) has been productive in the past year participating in education through AO CMF and presenting their work at national and international meetings. This productive research team including Alexander Perry (PGY3) and Justin Lee (PGY2) recently had their work titled "Immediate and long-term outcomes of autologous and alloplastic cranioplasty in pediatric population" accepted in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.

The Plastic Surgery Research Day was held on April 7, 2025. The Division of Plastic Surgery welcomed Dr. Elizabeth Hall-Findlay as their visiting professor. Dr. Hall-Findlay presented a stimulating grand rounds on changes she has made during her > 30 year career to her breast surgery practice. This was followed by a morning of teaching for the plastic surgery residents and culminated in judging the Plastic Surgery Research Day Talks. There were many great presentations by residents and trainees in the Division of Plastic Surgery with the winners highlighted below.

The Division’s residents also keenly engage in research, high lighted on Plastic Surgery Research Day.
First Place Clinical Research – Dr. Ralph Hsiao (PGY2) – “A computer tomography analysis of factors impacting inferior rectus rounding.”
Second Place Clinical Research – Dr. Victoria Kulesza (PGY-3) – “Hand sensory function in pediatric brachial plexus birth injury after triple nerve transfer.”
First Place Basic Science – Nikala Bochinski (MSc Candidate) – “Can exercise training post nerve injury help prevent bone loss.”
First Place Innovation – Dr. Alexander Perry (PGY 3/CIP) – “Parametric design of nasal cartilage grafts for nasal reconstruction using multimodal imaging.”