Mass General Brigham-Brigham and Women's Hospital-Harvard Medical School Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is the flagship Harvard-affiliated plastic surgery program, formed from the historic merger of MGH, BWH, and Beth Israel Deaconess training lineages, and it operates across five major Boston teaching hospitals (Brigham and Women's, MGH, Boston Children's, Shriners, Mass Eye and Ear) offering over 2,000 cumulative inpatient beds and full subspecialty breadth including craniofacial/cleft, microsurgery, oncologic reconstruction, hand, and pediatric care. The program runs both a six-year integrated track (four NRMP positions annually) and a three-year independent track for surgeons completing prerequisite specialty training, with more than 30 core faculty and numerous funded laboratories spanning basic science, clinical outcomes, and surgical education research. Residents graduate with case volumes well exceeding board minimums, and the resident body is dominated by top-tier medical schools with strong research portfolios, reflecting an identity built around producing field leaders, academic surgeons, and subspecialty innovators rather than general community reconstructive surgeons. Selection criteria explicitly emphasize academic excellence, leadership ability, career development potential, and personal character alongside operative competence.