The AAFPRS Foundation offers two Resident Travel Awards to encourage residents and medical students to explore careers in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and support their attendance at the AAFPRS Annual Meeting. Travel grants are awarded to the most outstanding abstracts primarily authored by an AAFPRS Resident Member or Medical Student. This year’s recipients include:

Oghenefejiro Okifo, MD – Dr. Okifo received the award for her abstract “Effect of Keloid Fibroblast-Derived Exosomes on Macrophage Differentiation.”

Khodayar Goshtasbi, MD– the second award was given to Dr. Goshtasbi for “Artificial Intelligence versus Human Focus Group Rating of Facial Attractiveness.”

The Fatima Porter-El Mitchell Excellence in Fellowship Award

This new award strives to recognize an AAFPRS Member who exemplifies a prevailing effort and attitude of excellence in a significant way, within the context of the AAFPRS Fellowship Program.

We are pleased to announce that the  inaugural award goes to Kirk N. Lozada, MD. Dr. Lozada spearheaded the organization of a series of online webinars specifically tailored for the then-current fellowship class. The series blossomed into a series of 17 webinars given by facial plastic surgeons from around the country. Without exception he advanced the quality and excellence of the AAFPRS Fellowship Program through his meaningful and ongoing program enhancements.

The  John Orlando Roe Award is named after the surgeon who accomplished the first rhinoplasty in 1887. This year’s recipient is Rahul M. Varman, MD for his paper, “Changes in Resting and Dynamic Symmetry after Selective Denervation Surgery.”

Sir Harold Delf Gilles Award
This award is named for Sir Harold Delf Gillies, a British otolaryngologist who in September 1917 described the tubed pedicle flap. The award goes to the graduate fellow who submits the best science research paper written during fellowship. We are pleased that for 2024 Seth J. Davis, MD is acknowledged for his paper, “Buccal Fat Advancement Transposition (BFAT) Flap for Reconstruction of Midface Volume Defects.”

William Wright Award
The William Wright Award goes to David A. Sherris, MD for his dedication to the instruction of medical students, residents, and fellows. He has been recognized for this work many times as a surgical instructor of the year and has inspired others to pursue the field of otolaryngology and to apply to a fellowship in facial plastic surgery. 

F. Mark Rafaty Memorial Award
Receiving the F. Mark Rafaty Memorial Award is Sam P. Most, MD. Dr. Most is receiving this recognition for his work in advancing the standards of facial plastic surgery over his career. He has lectured extensively on preservation rhinoplasty in a clear and dispassionate way, avoiding hype and bringing a scholarly approach to established and new rhinoplasty techniques.

John Dickinson Teacher of the Year Award
Receiving the John Dickinson Teacher of the Year Award is Grant Hamilton, MD. Dr. Hamilton was nominated for his insightful and engaging educational presentations making use of cutting edge graphics and video technology. He has had a presence domestically and internationally at many facial plastic surgery meetings and in doing so has escalated the knowledge of hundreds of surgeons in the specialty.

Community Service Award
The Community Service Award is given to an AAFPRS member who has distinguished himself/herself by providing and/or making possible free medical service to the poor in his/her community. In his nomination, Dr. David Shaye was noted for his personal sacrifices for the goal of improving the world through facial plastic surgery and consistently acting as an unparalleled teacher to residents and fellows.

This year we have a special award to announce. Receiving the Special Distinction in Global Service are members of the travel team to Ukraine. These individuals have traveled to the war torn areas of Ukraine on three separate missions providing life altering surgeries to individuals injured during this war. We applaud their courage, expertise and thank them for the many accolades that the AAFPRS Foundation’s FACE TO FACE Program has received because of their effort.

The AAFPRS Members of the Ukraine Travel Team

Manoj T. Abraham, MD
Sherard (Scott) A. Tatum, MD                    
John Frodel, MD                     
Ryan D. Winters, MD
Sunder Gidumal, MD                        
Mark Mims, MD                                        
Joshua Rosenberg, MD          
Grigoriy Mashkevich, MD
Ivanka Nebor, MD

We also want to acknowledge the many individuals who provided valuable support and insight as the team originally convened to plan the first mission and whose feedback was invaluable in assuring that these missions were impactful, successful and most important safe.

Anthony E. Brissett, MD
Roman Bukachevsky, MD                
Peter A. Adamson, MD                              
 Cori Horn, MD                            
Donn R. Chatham, MD
Cory Maas, MD                                 
Theda Kontis, MD                                       
Matthew D. Johnson, MD           
Ming Gray, MD
Christopher Razavi, MD                    
Peter Hilger, MD                                        
Sameep Kadakia, MD                
Laxmeesh M. Nayak, MD 
Nadia Mostovych, MD                       
Steve Jurich, AAFPRS CEO/EVP              
Rita Magness, Director of Industry Relations and Communications
Karen Sloat, FTF Program Administrator