Reconstructive Transplantation

Dr. Gurunian received his medical degree from Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, 1991 and completed his plastic surgery residency at the same university in 1997. Dr. Gurunian then continued his training in the U.S.A. and completed a 1-year Microsurgery Fellowship, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio, 2000-2001. He further trained for one year in Innsbruck, Austria, at the department of Plastic Surgery, specializing in breast reconstruction and reconstructive microsurgery. Dr. Gurunian received his PhD completing Doctorate in Anatomy, Istanbul 2003.

Dr. Gurunian became the chief plastic surgeon at Denver Medical Center, University of Colorado Health Sciences in 2006. His focus and interest were breast reconstruction and head and neck reconstruction.

In 2014, Dr. Gurunian appointed as staff physician at the department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. He was one of the transplant surgeons performing the first total face transplant in the U.S.A (3rd face transplant at Cleveland Clinic), May 4-5, (2017).

In 2021, Dr. Gurunian appointed as the chief of Plastic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. He continues to have Medical Staff reappointment and privileges at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. In Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, he pioneered breast reconstruction and lymphatic surgery introducing this niche service to UAE for the first time.

Dr. Gurunian is an American board and European board-certified plastic surgeon and a professor of Plastic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner college of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Gurunian has practiced in Europe, in the USA, and in the middle East and has vast experience in plastic surgery, especially in the field of breast surgery, breast reconstruction, reconstructive microsurgery and vascularizedtissue allotransplantation.

Throughout his career, Dr. Gurunian has performed over 12,000 operations. He has published over 150 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and is the lead editor of two plastic surgery books. On multiple occasions, he has been invited to national and international meetings as a lecturer and panelist.

Antonio Rampazzo, MD PhD , joined Cleveland Clinic's Plastic Surgery Department in 2014 after completing a craniofacial surgery fellowship at the University of Michigan and is co-director of the Cleft Lip-Palate/ Craniofacial Anomalies Program and Hand Transplant Program.

Dr. Antonio Rampazzo received his medical degree from the University of Padova (Italy) in 2001. He completed his residency in plastic surgery at the University of Padova (Italy) in 2006. He further trained for 2 years in London, United Kingdom (Queen Victoria Hospital, St Andrew's Center for Plastic Surgery and Royal London Hospital). He then completed a 1-year reconstructive microsurgery fellowship at E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 2010, he worked as a research fellow at Cleveland Clinic with Dr Maria Siemionow on vascularized composite allotransplantation until July 2011. Then, he completed a two years hand surgery fellowship at Christine Marie Kleinert Institute, Louisville, Kentucky (2011-2013).

His specialty interests are pediatric and adult craniomaxillofacial surgery, hand and wrist surgery, microsurgical reconstructions, and face and hand transplantation.

Dr Rampazzo is an Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. His research interests include vascularized composite allotransplantation, face, hand and abdominal wall transplantation, new techniques in craniomaxillofacial surgery and microsurgery. He has writtenmultiple book chapters and has over eighty peer-reviewed papers.

Frank Papay, MD, is the newly appointed Chairman of the Dermatology & Plastic Surgery Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He has been a member of Cleveland Clinic's professional staff since 1992. He also serves as Section Head of Craniofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is an Professor of Surgery in Cleveland Clinic's Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Papay has been recognized as a Top Doc in plastic surgery by Cleveland magazine and Castle Connolly. Dr. Papay has served as President of the Ohio Valley Society of Plastic Surgeons, elected Chair of the American Society of Plastic Surgery's Ethics Committee, President of the Plastic Surgery Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Executive Committee Member of the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and Northern Ohio.
Dr. Papay has published over 100 scientific papers, abstracts and book chapters and holds five medical device patents. He has served as the Board Examiner of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Finalist Judge for the collegiate inventors' competition from the National Inventors Hall of Fame and invited section reviewer of several plastic surgery scientific journals.
His clinical research interests include utilization of bone substitutes in cranofacial reconstruction, nasal valve function in rhinoplasty, facial plastic surgery and pediatric craniofacial anomalies and recently transfacial approaches for neuromodulation of the sphenopalatine ganglion for cluster and migraine headaches.

Dr. Bassiri Gharb is an associate professor of plastic surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and, director of research of the Department of Plastic Surgery and program director of plastic surgery research fellowship. She has written multiple book chapters and over eighty peer-reviewed papers. Her research interests include face and hand transplantation, new techniques in craniomaxillofacial surgery, hand surgery and microsurgery.